The spring municipal elections are far from over. On 21 May the citizens of Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta will go to vote, on 28 and 29 May those of Sardinia and Sicily. But the call to the polls yesterday and today, 14 and 15 May, is the one that involves the most voters: around 4.5 million, for the renewal of the council of 595 Municipalities. There are 13 provincial capitals to vote: Ancona, the only one in the Region, Brescia, Brindisi, Imperia, Latina, Massa, Pisa, Siena, Sondrio, Teramo, Terni, Treviso and Vicenza. With the polls still open, the news of the death of a Democratic Party councilor candidate in Siena was spread: hospitalized for a few days in hospital, the 37-year-old Federico Pacciani had made his disability a strong point for political battles. Turnout forecasts worry the various political forces. Following the trend of the latest consultations, a further drop is expected in this round: at 11 pm, 46.5% of those entitled had voted, 14 points less than the previous call to vote. The centre-right defends 7 provincial capitals which it has administered in the last five years: there is great attention on the Tuscan cities of Massa, Pisa and Siena, but also Vicenza. The centre-left, on the other hand, is trying to hold on in 5 provincial capitals: Ancona, Brescia, Brindisi, Latina and Teramo. The only capital where the outgoing mayor is independent is Imperia. The ballots for this round are scheduled for May 28 and 29, in two weeks’ time.
The decline in attendance
It is not a collapse, but the turnout bar is still going down compared to the administrative ones of five years ago. In 2018, the figure had stopped at 61.2%, but it only turned around on one day, on Sunday. In this round, despite the fact that the polls remained open for eight hours on Monday as well, the participation of those entitled to vote stands at 59%. The electoral law of Municipalities and Regions «has always guaranteed stability, so it is an absolutely positive law. Then you can make some adjustments but I don’t think that’s the problem», commented the president of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana. The center-right majority, also bringing the issue of abstention to the table, would like to change the electoral law of the local administrations. “On the front of the reforms of local authorities, we tell Roberto Calderoli that it is wrong to intervene on the ballot, but we must try to find answers to the real problems,” said the leader of the Democratic Party in the Chamber, Chiara Braga. «We have strong and rooted candidacies in the field, capable of confirming good seasons of government, as in Brescia, and of changing the face of bad management. There are positive signs even if abstention is a negative fact for everyone, which worries us».
Turnout drops more markedly in the North than in the Center and South, an area of the country that confirms itself as more participatory in municipal consultations. Another item that stands out YouTrend is the figure for participation in cities whose outgoing mayors are civic: compared to administrative pasts, turnout has dropped by about 3 points in the Municipalities governed by the centre-right, by 2 points in the Municipalities governed by the centre-left and by 1 point where the first citizen in office he was elected with a civic list. In the only regional capital to vote, Ancona, the turnout increased slightly compared to 2018: then 54.6% of those entitled to vote, today 54.9%. Siena is also bucking the trend, with an increase in participation, which went from 63% in 2018 to the current 63.8%. Among the capitals, the highest drop in turnout is recorded in Treviso: -6.8%. Here are the other changes in the capitals to the vote: Imperia -4.7%, Sondrio -4.0%, Brindisi -3.1%, Latina -3.1% (compared to 2021), Terni -2.6%, Massa -2.2%, Pisa -2.2%, Vicenza -1.6%, Teramo -0.8%, Brescia +0.4%.
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