Last hours of voting for the run-offs of the administrative elections, which, by 3pm today, will decide the fate of the 65 municipalities still in the game. It is hoped for a boost in turnout, which yesterday at 11 pm stood at 33.33%, 6 points lower than that recorded in the first round at the same time. This second round of elections should involve about 5 million voters.
At the close of the polls the ballots will be launched and the first exit polls will be published, then, in the afternoon, the names of the new mayors will be announced.
The most anticipated results are those of Turin and Rome, where the center-right and center-left compete for the leadership of the cities. Enrico Michetti and Roberto Gualtieri compete for the capital: the first, candidate for the center-right, had won 30 percent of the preferences in the first round, the second, center-left, had previously taken 27 percent. For the Piedmontese city, the clash is between the center-left of Stefano Lo Russo and the center-right candidate, Paolo Damilano.
Here too, however, the numbers of participation in the vote remain low and alarming. In Turin, with 32.6% of voters, the percentage is even lower than the national one, with two out of three citizens abstaining; even worse is Rome, with 30.87% of voters. These are two of the lowest results ever recorded, despite the appeals to the vote of the contenders in recent days, which have not served to bring citizens to the polls.
But in addition to Turin and Rome, there are eight provincial capitals to be voted on: Trieste, Varese, Savona, Latina, Benevento, Caserta, Isernia and Cosenza. On 24 and 25 October it will then be the turn of 11 other municipalities of the Regions with special status, Sardinia, Sicily and Trentino-Alto Adige.