More than 3,700 municipalities, 23 provincial and 6 regional capitals, including Florence, Bari And Cagliariwithout forgetting the elections in Piedmont. On 8 and 9 June the European Championship match will intersect with the administrative round and with the fourth regional election of 2024, after those of Sardinia, Abruzzo and Basilicata. An electoral weekend that will potentially involve 51.7 million Italians. About a third of them (just over 17 million) will be called to the polls for the renewal of the mayor and the city council. A challenge that will see a compact center-right face each other almost everywhere and a progressive front united patchily, especially in the regional capitals where the Pd-M5S axis will only hold in half of the cases. The situation is different in the provinces, where the yellow-red axis will be present in at least 2 out of 3 capitals.
The 29 capitals that will vote are Ascoli Piceno, Avellino, Bari, Bergamo, Biella, Cagliari, Cesena, Caltanissetta, Campobasso, Cremona, Ferrara, Florence, Forlì, Lecce, Livorno, Modena, Pavia, Perugia, Pesaro, Pescara, Power, Lawn, Reggio Emilia, Rovigo, Sassari, Urbino, Verbania, Vercelli And Vibo Valentia. There were 228 voting centers with more than 15 thousand inhabitants and 3,487 those equal to or less than 15 thousand. The run-off round – which will possibly only concern municipalities over 15,000 – will take place on Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th June. Here are the most important challenges.
Divided in Bergamo and Florence, united in Cagliari and Perugia: in the municipal elections the ‘progressive front’ (r)exists, but patchy
by Matteo Pucciarelli
May 21, 2024
Bari and Florence
We start from the two cities in which the center-right will attempt to make a push after years of left-wing government. Not only that: Bari and Florence have been the scene of very harsh clashes within the opposition in recent months. In Puglia the rift between the Dem and the Five Star Movement had a national resonance, with the M5S determined to break the pact from a municipal perspective in the wake of the investigations that involved the Dem-led centre-left at the city and regional level. Contending for the after-Decaro (very popular mayor and now running for Brussels) will be the candidate of the Democratic Party Vito Leccesethe lawyer Michele Laforgia supported by M5S and the Northern League Fabio Romito supported by the entire center-right. According to the polls released before the publication was stopped, Leccese is destined to win the first round and confirm itself in the second, thanks to the possible convergence of the electorate aligned with Laforgia.
Same script in Florence: outgoing mayor as EU candidate (Nardella will run with the Dems in the Center constituency), split center-left (this time in three) and compact center-right on the civic Eike Schmidt, former director of the Uffizi. She will have to deal with the candidate supported by Italia Viva Stefania Saccardisnatched from the regional council of the Dem Giani and ready to give the M5S a hard time Lorenzo Masi and to a Democratic Party that has lost the support of Renzi in the fiefdom of Renzism. Despite this, even here, she is ahead in the polls as the Dem candidate Sara Funarobut not before the second round.
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Cagliari, second round in Sardinia
The second half of the match which saw the triumph of the 5s wide field triumph in the regional capital last February Alessandra Todde. This time too, albeit in a local format, the game is between the yellow-red front and the centre-right, which will attempt to remain in government of the city administered by the candidate defeated in the regional elections, the Melonian Paolo Truzzu. The challenge will be between Massimo Zeddaformer Sel and mayor from 2011 to 2019, and the almost namesake Alessandra Zedda, former vice president of the Solinas council. Here too the chances of victory are more towards the centre-left. According to a survey by Bidimediacreated when the center-right’s candidacy had not yet been made official, the former mayor would be above 50 percent of the preferences.
In Perugia the center-left dreams of reconquest
After decades of red domination, in 2014 the city passed into the hands of the center-right led by Forza Italia Andrea Romizi. Now, ten years later, the center-left is attempting to reconquer it with a very broad camp, ranging from +Europa to Rifondazione Comunista, passing through the Pd and the M5S. He will be the one to guide him Vittoria Ferdinandi, 37 years old, Knight of Merit for having opened and successfully managed a restaurant where people with mental health problems work. Another woman will defend the counter-assault on the stronghold: Margherita Scoccia, 45 years old, outgoing councilor of Romizi. The latest polls predicted a head-to-head with an uncertain outcome.
Piedmont, Cirio towards reconfirmation
Even in the Piedmont Region, the divisions between the Pd and M5S prevailed. And perhaps not even the unity among the opposition forces would be enough to reinvigorate the hopes of a victory in the region which in 2019 switched from the dem Chiamparino to the strength player Alberto Cirio, deputy secretary of FI running for an encore. On the other hand, the candidate of the Democratic Party Giulia Pentenero and the pentastellata Sarah Disabatobut also Alberto Costanzosupported by Libertà di Cateno De Lucaand the former 5s regional councilor and well-known No Tav activist Francesca Frediani. According to a survey by the Piepoli Institute, released last May 24, Cirio would stand at around 53 percent, compared to 30 percent for the Dem-led center-left and 12 percent for the M5S. If the predictions were confirmed, with the new electoral law the center-right could gain 60 percent of the seats up for grabs in the council.
