Bergamo ready for the vote, everything you need to know about the elections

The wait is over, the countdown is over: in the Bergamo area, as in all of Italy, the elections have finally arrived. Today, Saturday June 8thand tomorrow, Sunday 9Bergamo voters are called to the polls to elect new members of the European Parliament and renew 164 municipal administrations.

Polls will open at 15 today and will remain open until 23; On Sunday citizens can go to the polls from 7 in the morning until 23. On Sunday evening, a few moments after voting closes, the counting of the European elections will begin. The first percentages of the parties should be released already during the night.

As far as administrative matters are concerned, as is known, they are 164 the Municipalities of the province of Bergamo affected by this heavy electoral round. Seven of these come to the elections without having the mayor designated in command 2019: Ambive, Pagazzano And New Municipality they were placed under commissionership due to the resignation of the majority of the councilors; to Lenna, Honor And Scanzorosciate since last year the respective vice-mayors have been in office after the election of the first citizens in the Regional Council; also to Selvino the second in office took over due to the tragic death of the young mayor Diego Bertocchi.

Five are the municipalities that exceed the threshold of 15,000: the capital Bergamo (119.476), Albino (17,492), Dalmine (23.241), Roman of Lombardy (20.613) e Serious (25,169). 39 instead the countries that are between 5,000 and 15,000, while the remaining 120 they have a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants. The municipality with the fewest voters is Cassigliowhich matters 111 inhabitants e 87 voters.

Citizens at the polls will receive a ballot grey for the European elections and a ballot paper blue for the administrative elections (if resident in one of the 164 Municipalities that are included in the round). For the preliminary voting operations, the presidents and scrutineers will take up their seats at the polling stations starting from 9 of the morning.

European elections

As regards the European elections, each voter can vote for only one list by marking the symbol of the chosen list. If the voter draws a mark on more than one list mark, the vote is invalid. Citizens can also express a maximum of three preferences towards the candidates on the voted list, as long as they are of different genders. In the lists representing linguistic minorities, only one preference may be expressed towards a single candidate.

In this European round, for the first time, voters are allowed to vote on an experimental basis off-site studentsyoung people who are for study reasons in a municipality of a region other than that of the municipality of electoral registration (for a period of at least three months in which the date of the European elections falls).

Two voting methods are available for off-site students. The first concerns cases in which they are domiciled in a municipality that is in the same electoral district as the municipality of residence: they will be able to vote in the ordinary sections of the municipality of temporary domicile. We are talking about off-site students residing in the regions of the North Western Italy district (Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta And Liguria) who submitted the application to the electoral registration offices by May 5, 2024. In Bergamo, a single student of Ligurian origin requested to vote. They were also presented 34 requests from students, voters in the Bergamo area, domiciled in the regions indicated above, to vote in their municipality of domicile.

The second method instead concerns cases in which the student is domiciled in a Municipality located in an electoral district different from that to which the Municipality of residence belongs: non-residents, upon request within the established deadlines, will be able to vote in special sections established in the municipality capital of the region to which the municipality of domicile belongs. The vote will be cast for the lists and candidates of the electoral district of the municipality of residence. All of them have arrived at the Bergamo municipalities 177 requests to vote away from home by Bergamo students studying in regions falling within other electoral constituencies.

In the province of Bergamo, for the European elections, those entitled to vote are 880,727of which 435,956 men and 444,771 women, divided into 977 electoral sections, of which 8 hospital. They are well 73 the Municipalities (su 243) which have a single section. The cities with the highest number of sections are Bergamo (103), Treviglio (27), Seriate (22), Dalmine (19), Albino (17), Romano di Lombardia and Caravaggio (15).

The capital, of course, is the municipality with the largest number of voters, with 93,025 those entitled to vote, of which 43,845 men and 49,180 women. In Bergamo the oldest voter is a woman, born in 1917while the youngest voters are five children (three girls and two boys) who will turn 18 years just Sunday June 9th (citizens who reach the age of majority on “voting day” are eligible to vote, and they can also go to the polls as 17-year-olds on Saturday 8th).

Administrative elections

Different matters for the administrative ones, in which the voting system changes depending on whether it is a municipality with a population higher (or lower) than the threshold of 15,000 inhabitants.

In the first case, when the threshold is not exceeded, each mayoral candidate is connected to only one list of councilor candidates, so the voter can make a mark on the symbol of the list or on the name of the mayoral candidate and the vote is valid for both the mayor than for the list. The citizen can also express a preference towards a councilor candidate from the list voted in the municipalities up to 5,000 inhabitants, two preferences – for candidates of different sexes – in municipalities with a population between 5,000 And 15,000 inhabitants.

The candidate who receives the highest number of votes will be elected to the office of mayor. Only in the case of an absolute tie will we proceed to the run-off round, scheduled for Sunday 23 it’s Monday June 24th.

In municipalities with a population greater than 15,000 inhabitants, the various candidates can instead be connected to one or more lists. The citizen will be able to: draw a vote sign on the symbol of the list giving his vote to both the mayor and the list; draw the vote sign only on the name of a mayoral candidate and the vote will thus be valid only for the mayor; draw a vote mark on the name of a mayoral candidate and another vote mark on the symbol of a list not connected to that candidate (‘disjoint vote’) and the vote will thus be valid for both the mayoral candidate and the list.

Residents can also express two preference votes for councilor candidates on the voted list as long as they are of a different sex. If no mayoral candidate obtains a full majority, a run-off will be held between the two candidates who obtained the highest number of votes in the first round (always scheduled for Sunday 23 it’s Monday June 24th).

In the 164 Municipalities called to the polls in the electoral round, the voters are 605.166of which 305,681 women and 299,485 men, divided into 654of which 5 hospital, 11 special seats, 28 flying seats e 1 place of detention. The municipality with the most voters is Bergamo with 50,568 women and 45,365 men, for a total of 95,933 voters.

In 46 Municipalities will vote for a single list: of these there are 4 (Almenno San Bartolomeo, Brembate, Pedrengo and Villa d’Almè) those who exceed 5,000 voters. Municipalities with only one section are 48.