With the presentation of the electoral lists in the thousand cities that will go to the vote – including 26 capitals and 116 municipalities with more than 15 thousand inhabitants – the electoral campaign that will lead to the elections of 12 June nearly 9 million Italians. The puzzle of the candidates is now complete, but the waltz of the alliances goes on, also thanks to the voting system with the double round, and will last much beyond June 13, when the counting of votes is expected. The center-right is at greater risk: the coalition controls 18 out of 26 outgoing councils in the provincial capitals called to vote (3 mayors are from the League, 3 from Fratelli d’Italia, 6 from Forza Italia, 4 independent center-right, one from Courage Italy and one of Cambiamo). The center-left, for its part, controls 5 outgoing administrations (3 of the Democratic Party and 2 independent center-left). Finally, three municipalities come from councils supported by civic lists. For this reason, political parties continue to study each other, aware that the appointment in the Municipalities represents the last important test of resistance of the coalitions before the 2023 policies. Especially for what concerns Sicily, which has always been a laboratory of coalitions and alliances. On the island, the elections in important municipalities such as Messina and Palermo are intertwined with those for the presidency of the region which will be held in the autumn. Democratic Party and 5 Star Movement are in the running to express the candidate for president. Among the dem, the name of Beppe Provenzano, deputy secretary and former minister for the South remains in the field. Among the Five Stars, the names in pole are those of Dino Giarrusso and Giancarlo Cancelleri, who would have engaged in an internal race to the Movement. The Five Stars are still very strong in Sicily, and the Democratic Party is determined to follow the alliance path. Which, however, would not be enough if the field were not extended to the forces of the center.
Alliances and candidates: the Sicily case
The scheme of the “large field” in Lettiano has already clashed, in Palermo, with the weight still enjoyed by central forces and which has allowed the vast and composite center-right front to gather around the candidate for mayor of Palermo, Roberto Lagalla. An alarm bell for the dem who, looking at the precedents, fear they will have to run alone: in 2017, with the Renzi secretariat, the administrative offices represented the prologue to the 2018 political debacle. , in that case. On the contrary, at the administrative offices of 2021, the Democratic Party overturned the balance in many municipalities, also thanks to the alliance with the center-left partners in over half of the municipalities in the vote. The hope of the dem is to further improve the performance given that in June they will present themselves together with the M5s in about 70 percent of the realities to the vote. The candidate identified by the two parties for the Sicilian capital is Franco Miceli, president of the National Council of Architects. A name put on the table by the Democratic Party. Therefore, it is the reasoning that is made among the Five Stars, the candidate for the presidency of the Region should go to the pentastellati. In the Democratic Party, however, the hypothesis of nominating Giuseppe Provenzano, former minister for the South and current deputy secretary of the party, remains strong. A strong candidacy that also responds to Enrico Letta’s appeal for his family to mobilize en masse to win the challenge in the cities. And to this is added the self-certification of Caudio Fava with his civic list that will draw consensus in the left electorate. Unknowns that make the primary hypothesis for the choice of the presidential candidate more concrete. The troubles for the Democratic Party, however, do not come only from its left. The “campo largo” also shows some unknowns on the centrist bank, the one in which Matteo Renzi and Carlo Calenda are attested.
Genoa and Catanzaro, between mistrust and tensions
In Genoa, Renzi supports Marco Bucci, outgoing mayor and center-right candidate. A pattern that was about to repeat itself in Palermo and faded only at the last moment, when the leader of Italia Viva explained that he could not support Lagalla if the center-right, including the Brothers of Italy, had presented himself united. Also to make up for the uncertainty in maintaining relations with Cique Stelle and Italia Viva, the secretary of the Democratic Party called his party to total mobilization. Who shuns, is the mantra of the dem, helps only the center-right and the discriminating factor for political candidacies will be the help or not arrived at the wide field. An appeal that has had its effects. “A work that lasted months ends and we can proudly say that the Democratic Party, thanks to over 4,500 clubs, is also present in this electoral competition with a list, symbol and its own militant and civic candidates in all cities to vote with the double round: in 26 capitals and in 116 municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants ”, announces Francesco Boccia. However, it is not only the center left that has to deal with internal mistrust and tensions. The challenge for the leadership of the coalition between Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni marked the path towards the electoral campaign and promises not to stop with the presentation of the lists. The center-right has reached an agreement in 20 major municipalities out of the 26 that will go to the vote on 12 June. In some realities an agreement was reached to reapply the outgoing mayors, in others it was chosen to nominate representatives of civil society, in still others the center-right managed to reach an agreement for the candidacy of party representatives. In Palermo, the agreement on Lagalla was reached in extremis, the same speech in Catanzaro and Verona. In Catanzaro, the center-right is divided into three sections. In Genoa, to give Bucci even more strength, Matteo Salvini even announced that he wanted to remove his name from the symbol of the League to replace it with that of the candidate for mayor. An initiative that the leader of the Northern League could also repeat in other realities. Right in the north, in fact, the entire internal challenge of the center-right between the Lega and Fratelli d’Italia lists is awaited. The victory of one or the other could represent the turning point for the coalition leadership. And not just locally.