Sunday 12 June does not vote only in all of Italy for the 5 referendums on justice. About 9 million Italians are called to vote to choose the mayors of a thousand municipalities, including 26 provincial capitals (Alessandria, Asti, Cuneo, Como, Lodi, Monza, Belluno, Padua, Verona, Gorizia, La Spezia , Parma, Piacenza, Lucca, Pistoia, Frosinone, Rieti, Viterbo, Barletta, Taranto, Messina, Oristano) and 4 of the region (Genoa, Palermo, Catanzaro and L’Aquila). Administrative voting is not just a local vote. It is also a test for 2023 policies. For the center-right, in fact, the polls will give indications on the internal balance of power, especially between the Lega, which seems to have lost its attractiveness, and FdI, which is growing in the polls. But also for the center-left, the polls will serve to verify the approval of the Pd-5 Star pact, which at a national level has to deal with the differences over the shipment of weapons to Ukraine and the waste-to-energy plant in Rome. To verify the weight of the centrists, who move in no particular order, with IV allied with the center-left or center-right depending on the candidate, and Action which, where it can, tries to run alone with more Europe.
Coalitions with variable geometries
Relations in the center-right remain very complicated despite the fact that on paper only 5 out of 26 capitals have not reached an agreement (Verona, Parma, Catanzaro, Viterbo, Messina). But relations are also complicated on the opposite side, where Pd and M5s run together only in 14 out of 26 cities. As for outgoing administrations, 18 are governed by the center-right, 5 by the center-left and 3 by civic lists
Split sides in Parma
In particular, in Parma the former mayor Pietro Vignali is supported by Forza Italia and Lega, but not by the Brothers of Italy, which Priamo Bocchi nominates. But in Parma even the wide field has jammed. The M5s, who conquered the city ten years ago with Federico Pizzarotti, will not be present on the ballot paper, while the Democratic Party supports Michele Guerra, the “dolphin” of the outgoing first citizen.
The divisions in the center-right
Center-right also shattered a Viterbo, where Fi and the Lega have indicated Claudio Ubertini and Fdi bets on civic Laura Allegrini. Script similar to Catanzaro where Forza Italia and Lega, on the one hand, have joined forces, albeit without party symbols, in support of the civic candidacy for mayor of the centrist Valerio Donato, professor of private law at the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro (recently released by the Democratic Party), also supported by the Renzians of Italia Viva. While Fdi, in a solitary race, nominates Wanda Ferro, deputy group leader in the Chamber, as mayor, also supported by the outgoing mayor Sergio Abramo. Here a broad center-left coalition ranging from the Democratic Party to De Magistris to the 5 Stars in Leu is in the field with the candidacy of Nicola Fiorita. Center-right split finally a Messina, where Lega-Prima Italy supports the candidate of “Sicilia Vera” (movement of the former mayor Cateno De Luca in the running to become governor of the island) Federico Basile; the rest of the coalition (Forza Italia and Fdi) is sided with Maurizio Croce.
Derby Sboarina-Tosi in Verona
The unmarking of Forza Italia in an important city such as Verona, where the Azzurri have decided to support the former mayor and former Northern League player Flavio Tosi together with the Renziani of Iv against the outgoing first citizen, Federico Sboarina, supported by the Brothers of Italy and the Lega. A war entirely internal to the center-right that could favor the candidate of the Pd, M5s and parties of the left, Damiano Tommasi.