ROME. Victories and defeats are celebrated in the middle of the night in the 65 municipalities, of which 13 provincial capitals, called to elect the mayor who will govern them for the next five years. Early summer ballots, with the heat advancing on the last Sunday of June, the only day allowed to vote, and beach temperatures. It is difficult, almost impossible in these conditions, to overcome the challenge of turnout, which in fact marks a new negative result at the national level: only 42.1 percent of those entitled to vote voted. A significant drop compared to the first round of 12 June, when the average number of participants in the vote stood at 54.20 percent. The center-left, still in progress, is already celebrating in Verona, Parma, Piacenza, Catanzaro and Alessandria, five cities torn from the center-right, and is confirmed in Cuneo. He expresses “great satisfaction for this ballot, an extraordinary result for the Democratic Party and the democratic field. We overthrow many outgoing mayors ”celebrates the leader of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, from the Nazarene. On the other hand, the forceist Licia Ronzulli has more sad tones: “When the center-right is divided, our voters do not reward us.” But she does not grant any laurels to the opponents of the Democratic Party: “Abstention won this round,” says Berlusconi’s loyalist.
It is no coincidence that the most heated challenge of this round, in Verona, is also the one with the least noticeable decrease in turnout. In the city of Verona the center-left, with the civic candidate Damiano Tommasi, a former footballer, conquers a historic stronghold of the center-right, with 53.36 per cent. “This political proposal turns the page to a city that has been waiting for this moment for a long time”, Tommasi rejoices. “We managed to campaign without speaking against, without attacking or denigrating the adversary.” Thus wins the challenge with the outgoing mayor Federico Sboarina, supported by the Brothers of Italy and the Lega, but not by Forza Italia, after Sboarina refused the appearance with the list of the force fighter Flavio Tosi, convinced that part of that 23.88 percent obtained by Tosi in the first round would automatically be poured into his hands. A heavy rift, always considered a mistake by Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini, and which leaves them with a bitter “I told you so” in their mouths.
In Parma, the former councilor of Federico Pizzarotti, Michele Guerra, defeats Pietro Vignali, a candidate of the center-right, with a 66.19 per cent who remains stable from the start of the ballot and in the middle of the count already rejoices: “The center-left returns to the government of the city . Our challenger did not move. This victory offers a signal at the national level – he says to La7-. The fact that there are no five stars, however, is only linked to the city of Parma. The point is that we have built a wide field ». From the headquarters of the Democratic Party, off the Nazarene, they also rejoice for Piacenza, where Katia Terasconi with 53.46 percent wins the all-female challenge against Patrizia Barbieri, supported by Lega, Forza Italia and Fdi.
The Five Stars, cut off from the front rows of the electoral clash, rejoice for Verona, where they supported Tommasi, and for Alessandria, where they supported Giorgio Abonante, elected with 54.11 per cent, defeating the outgoing mayor and man of the center-right, Gianfranco Cuttica by Revigliasco.
The coalition of Salvini, Berlusconi and Meloni can console itself with Gorizia, where Rodolfo Ziberna was confirmed with 52.23 percent of the vote, beating the center-left challenger Laura Fasiolo, and with the victory in Barletta by Cosimo Cannito, who triumphs with 65.03 per cent. Forza Italia, however, focused above all on Monza and Catanzaro, where it fielded its candidates. After bringing Monza football to Serie A – they say – Berlusconi would have wanted to play en plein, bringing home the victory in the Brianza capital with the reconfirmation of the outgoing mayor, Dario Allevi: but in the middle of the night he is the candidate of the center-left Paolo Pilotto to be elected mayor, recovering seven percentage points of disadvantage compared to two weeks ago. Bad also in Catanzaro, already given for lost when it is just past midnight. The university professor Nicola Fiorita, supported by the Pd and M5S, was elected with 58.24 percent of the votes, while the force fighter Valerio Donato, also supported by Lega and Fdi, remained behind at 41.27 percent. A vote that overturns the outcome of the first round, when Donato had closed ahead. «The center-right loses badly for incredible choices, choosing exiles from the center-left. I am thinking of Catanzaro », comments the secretary of the Democratic Party Letta. The head-to-head in Lucca remains alive, while the civic candidates come out as protagonists in Como and Viterbo.
However, the turnout, everywhere, was very low. The data inevitably also weighs on the prospects that the parties would like to build around the results of the two coalitions in the field. On the one hand that of the center-right, driven by the Brothers of Italy but devoured by internal quarrels, on the other the wide field of Enrico Letta and Giuseppe Conte, who has yet to draw the boundaries of his alliances. And then the centrists, from Carlo Calenda to Matteo Renzi, intent on weighing, on the basis of their voting indications, their chances of really being the tip of the balance at the next Politics, in the spring of 2023.