Lawyer Luigi Quinto, why are we still unable to determine a certain result four days after the polls close in Lecce?
«The outcome of the recent electoral round for the capital municipality is still uncertain because the final ballot results of 4 of the 102 sections are missing. The reasons appear to lie in some anomalies found in the minutes of the counting operations, relating to the mismatch between the number of voters and the number of votes recorded”.
What bureaucratic steps are missing to establish whether Adriana Poli Bortone won the elections in the first round or whether the challenge against Carlo Salvemini is postponed to the runoff?
«It is necessary to complete the operations of the four sections still not defined and proceed with the summation of all the votes obtained by the candidates for the office of mayor in the 102 sections and verify whether these exceed the threshold of 50% of the valid votes for the candidate Poli Bortone».
The central electoral commission has been working on four sections since last Tuesday: what are the functions of this body? And what are the deadlines for decisions, if any?
«The failure of the polling station to complete the operations resulted in a devolution of the remaining activities to the Central Electoral Office at the Court of Lecce.
The Central Office has the task of proceeding by subrogation to complete the operations not completed by the sections and, subsequently, of summarizing the votes reported by the candidates for the office of mayor in all the section electoral offices. If one of the two candidates exceeds the threshold of 50% of valid votes (in this case, this option seems possible only in favor of Senator Poli Bortone), the Central Office proclaims his election to the office of mayor. If, however, the Office finds that the threshold has not been reached, it declares the two most supported candidates admitted to the run-off round. Once the percentages of votes obtained by the candidates for the office of mayor have been determined, the operations of the Central Office continue to determine the electoral figure of the list or group of lists and the individual figure of the candidates for the office of municipal councilor, while the operations of distribution of seats among the lists follows the mayor’s proclamation. There are no pre-established deadlines for the conclusion of operations by the Central Office, because the times depend on the specificity of the cases. However, these must be completed quickly in order to allow the possible run-off round to take place. The Central Office concluded operations for section no. on Tuesday. 25. We have news that today (yesterday, ed.) the ballot operations for sections no. will be examined and, if necessary, completed. 26 and 35. If the works proceed as planned, the operations of the last section, no., will be completed tomorrow, June 13th. 88. After which the outcome, resulting from the minutes, of the proclamation of Senator Poli Bortone as mayor in the first round or of the calling of the run-off round will be known.”
With an appeal to the TAR, is it possible to challenge the outcome of the entire vote or possibly only that relating to the four sections still to be defined?
«It is certainly possible to appeal to the TAR against the outcome of the vote, with reference to each phase of the electoral procedure (therefore both against the results of the first round which will be declared by the Central Office, and against the outcome of the possible round of ballot). It is also possible to contest the outcome of the vote even for just one or more sections. However, we must wait for the conclusion of the entire electoral round.”
If there is a run-off, when will the vote return?
«The run-off round is set without delay for the second Sunday following the first round, therefore, in this case, the vote will return on June 23rd».
Is there a risk that an appeals battle could postpone or even skip the second round?
«The risk does not exist. The appeal to the TAR, even if it refers to the operations and results of the first round, can only be proposed at the conclusion of the entire electoral procedure, as provided for by the art. 130 of the code of the administrative process, which occurs with the proclamation of the mayor and the councilors, therefore at the outcome of the possible ballot».
