LAWN. The right-wing wind blowing from France and Germany can also be felt here, but a little less. The Democratic Party returns to being the leading political force in the province of Prato in the vote for the renewal of the European Parliament. At the end of the counting of the 242 sections in the seven municipalities of the province, the Democratic Party with 32.18% surpasses, albeit slightly, Fratelli d’Italia which stops at 31.22%.
A head-to-head battle between the two main political forces that went on all night. The duel began 40 minutes after the polls closed, with section 12 of Carmignano, the first to announce the results. Here Giorgia Meloni’s party wins with 33% and the Democratic Party follows. Then the percentages stabilize and the Dems overtake after 21 sections, maintaining an advantage of a couple of points and a few hundred votes, an advantage that dwindles but ultimately holds.
The comparison
Five years ago there was the exploit of the League which took 33.99% at the European elections, leaving the Democratic Party at 32.46%. A sensational figure which, however, was not enough to get the centre-right mayoral candidate Daniele Spada elected in the Prato municipal elections, because here the numbers were reversed, with the Democratic Party at 31.71% and the League at 22.84%, yet another confirmation that administrative elections are very different from the European vote. In the political elections of September 2022, it was the Brothers of Italy who beat the Democratic Party with 28.35% in the Chamber against 25.75% of the Dems, paving the way for the election of Erica Mazzetti (Forza Italia, supported by FdI) against the “parachuted” Nannicini.
Today
This time, however, the Democratic Party takes revenge, even if it doesn’t win everywhere. In Carmignano and Poggio a Caiano, the two municipalities where there was no vote for the local elections, the turnout was predictably lower and Fratelli d’Italia won, with 33.51% against 28.25% in Carmignano, and with 34.94% against 27.87% in Poggio, where the counting was very slow, with the first section arriving two and a half hours after the polls closed, when Cantagallo, so to speak, had already sent everything. In Cantagallo the Democratic Party won with 33.36%; also in Vernio with 32.77% against 30.87% of FdI; in Vaiano, however, Meloni’s party prevailed with 31.97% against 31.24% of the Democratic Party; in Montemurlo the Democratic Party obtained the best result, 35.11%; finally, in Prato, the Democratic Party collected 26,243 votes, equal to 32.40% against 30.83% (24,975 votes) of FdI.
There is another overtaking to be recorded, that of Forza Italia with Noi moderates which leads the League by more than one point on a provincial basis (6.83% against 5.68%). The result of Renzi-Bonino’s United States of Europe was good (4.29%), but not so good that of Action, which stopped at 2.83%. The result of the Alleanza Verdi Sinistra was also good, standing at 6.18%.
