The vote resists the anomalous debut on Saturday. It resists, but it doesn’t fly. Because the eight hours straight that the sections are open equate to an average turnout below the level of other consultations. The line? People vote more, much more in municipalities where the mayor’s seat is up for grabs. There is less voting, much less where the only ingredient on the plate is the ballot for the European elections. The voting bar stops at 17.66%. It is the threshold of the electoral Saturday: a very partial figure, which is not enough to make the calculations in your pocket for the electoral round, in the province and in Arezzo. A bit like a swallow, which alone does not make a summer. But it is a first element, a flash that measures the appeal of the test among voters. We know that the European elections represent a strategic hub, a litmus test for the parties. They outline the geography of the old continent but at the same time they outline, thanks to proportional representation, the balance of power between the parties. They turn into a wedge between the two sides, and in the end, nothing will be the same as before because the outcome of the vote mends balances and alliances, in the seesaw of who goes up and who goes down. With a plus for the capital municipality where they represent a “midterm” test towards the municipal elections. Saturday’s vote is unique, it is difficult to establish a parallel with the previous ones. If we take as a reference the data from 12pm on Sunday when voting took place on a single day, in 2022 we were at 21.6% in the province and 22.2% in the city. Today we are at 17.66% at the provincial level. In the capital, 10,850 people from Arezzo voted in absolute terms and the turnout figure was 14.28%. In the city the figure stands at around 15% of the electorate, with one voter in 7 voting, but with higher peaks in certain neighbourhoods: for example at Giotto, with sections at the athletics field, heir to the “historic” via Tricca, around 20%.
Indications also from other municipalities. San Giovanni and Terranuova are around 23% while in Castiglion Fiorentino the turnout is 19.62%. For now the highest threshold is recorded in Chitignano with 27.92%, followed by Pratovecchio Stia: 26.06% in the eight sections. Cavriglia closes the first round with 21.58% of voters in the booth. In Monte San Savino the turnout was 11.56%, among the lowest figures, while Caprese Michelangelo brought up the rear: 5.43%. An interesting data comes from Cortona: 20.83%. It is almost the same turnout figure achieved in the 2022 elections. Today we start again.
Lucia Bigozzi
