PESCARA. The mayor’s proclamation is postponed Carlo Masci, after winning the elections in the first round with 50.95%. The recount of the votes should end between tomorrow and Monday and it will be known whether Masci has really exceeded the 50% threshold or whether there will be a run-off with Carlo Costantini of the centre-left. Masci feels protected by a curtain of 588 votes: the outgoing mayor, re-nominated by the centre-right with the support of 6 lists, exceeded the 50% ceiling by 588 votes. But, according to Costantini (5 lists), during the counting which began at 2pm on Monday and continued until night, there were “alleged irregularities” in the counts, separate votes and 1,311 annulled ballots. This is according to a three-page brief presented by Costantini’s staff on Wednesday to the central electoral commission, led by the president of the court Angelo Bozzaand a supplementary report of another 5 pages filed on Thursday after the reading of the first documents.
The centre-left, defeated at the polls with 34.24%, is inspired by the Campobasso case and is keeping its fingers crossed: in the Campobasso municipal elections, due to an error in the loading of separate votes, the victory in the first round of the centre-right candidate was missed Aldo De Benedittisinitially given at 53%: with the correction of the data, there will be a run-off between De Benedittis at 48% and the centre-left candidate Marialuisa Forte to the 31st.
If Masci preaches tranquility, supported by a shield of almost 1%, anxiety dominates among the majority councilor candidates, often protagonists of head-to-head competition for the last preference: to know precisely how many votes they have received, the candidates will have to probably wait until the end of June. The checks on preferences, with a cross-check of the minutes of the polling station presidents and the vote registers, should start immediately after the conclusion of the operations for the mayor, therefore from Monday onwards and will probably take more than a week. This delay will have consequences on the formation of the Masci bis council: in Forza Italia, there are just 6 votes between the first woman, Valeria Toppetti (822), and the outgoing councilor Maria Rita Carrot (814); on the same list, just two votes between two other incumbents, the councillor Claudio Croce to 799 and the assessor Eugenio Seccia at 797; in Fratelli d’Italia, six votes divide the outgoing councilors Massimo Pastore (703) e Zaira Zamparelli (697). This is why, in view of the negotiations for the departments, a handful of votes (more or less) could make the difference.
At stake are 10 roles to be assigned, 9 councilors and the president of the city council. The scheme includes 4 assignments for FdI, 4 for Forza Italia, one for the Lega and one for Pescara Futura. But there is a detail that complicates the calculations of the divisions: in addition there must be 4 women, as many as the outgoing ones. The women should be nominated, two per party, by FdI and Forza Italia. And even in this case the negotiation is uphill: for FdI, Zamparelli is among the candidates; there is a traffic jam in Forza Italia between Toppetti, Carota and then Patrizia Martelli (693) e Isabella Del Trecco (567), both former councillors, and Vittoria D’Incecco (632).
In the absence of dramatic coups, in the next municipal council, there will be, for the majority, 8 councilors from FdI, 7 from Forza Italia, two from the League, two from Pescara Futura and one from Masci Mayor for Pescara Unica, while in the opposition , in addition to the Costantini candidates and the civic Domenico Pettinari, 5 from the Democratic Party, one from Carlo Costantini Mayor of Pescara, one from Alleanza Verdi and Sinistra-Radici in Comune, one from the M5S and two from Pettinari Mayor. The list of Gianluca Fusilliwith 1.73%, did not elect representatives.
