Perugia, 16 June 2024 – Never a duel was more a duel. The one between Margherita Scoccia And Vittoria Ferdinandi to become the first mayor of Perugia it’s more than one ballot: it is the face to face of programs and ideas, the head-on clash, the ‘one on one’ challenge without intermediaries and comparisons. Because in the Umbrian capital, from the first round, the match is played only between the centre-left and the centre-right. There is no room for middle ground or alternative protagonists: in the round of 8 and 9 June the other three candidates for mayor (the new entry Baiocco, the old-time communist Caponi and the revived Monni) did not even put together 3 percent of the votes. So: either Ferdinandi or Scoccia, either here or there. And this is what is heating up the city like never before, at least in the latest challenges to conquer Palazzo dei Priori. The people of Perugia felt it from the first moment: a full house was the rule for the presentations and rallies of the two candidates, from the halls of the ‘Capitini’ to the auditorium of San Francesco al Prato up to Barton Park and Piazza IV Novembre. And for the runoff, Scoccia and Ferdinandi start again from the neighborhoods. The tour began yesterday which will take the two young contenders around Perugia, to meet the residents, to listen and promise.
The situation pre-playoff is almost parity. Vittoria Ferdinandi, supported by the broad centre-left camp, goes to the run-off with 40,922 votes (49.01%). Margherita Scoccia, from the centre-right, responds with 40,324 preferences, equal to 48.29%. There is a gap of 598 signs in the urn, a trifle. The final battle is open, very open. This is also why the two candidates restarted their trip to the city. There are spaces to be conquered: blank and null ballots, in the first round, exceeded two thousand and that is the first pool of undecided and dissatisfied people to draw from. Then abstentionism: 65.08% of Perugia voted for the municipal elections on 8 and 9 June, with a drop of 4.5 percentage points compared to the same round in 2019. Who will be able to involve more residents among those who have rejected the ballot paper in the first round will almost certainly have victory in their pocket.
Said this , the air in Perugia is nice and crisp. The center-left hears scent of revenge after ten years of domination by the opposite side. Ferdinandi warms up the square when he says: “I want a city of rights, of smiles, of hope. I want a city that grows again without fear, that overcomes tiredness and hatred, that talks about work, identity, humanity and respect”. On the other hand, Scoccia holds his ground and pushes on the work done in the decade of the Romizi-government: “There is a work to be carried forward, to be consolidated. The future does not stop. Against the Perugia of the no which blocks development with uncertain policies there is our Perugia of yes, with concrete proposals and ideas that improve everyone’s life”. From one front to the other, barbs rain down on the real or presumed extremism of the candidates, on backroom agreements (but with whom, in the end?), on electoral promises that are all too astonishing. On Monday 24th the truth will be known, but in this dueling climate, one thing is certain: for the first time in its history, Perugia will not have “the mayor”, but “the mayor”.
