A good portion of Italy returns to the polls for the 2024 municipal elections. From Bari to Florence passing through Vercelli and Caltanissetta, there are 101 municipalities involved, of which 14 are capitals, in this second round, those with more than 15 thousand inhabitants in which no candidate obtained more than 50% of the votes in the first round (8- June 9th). The polls will be open today, Sunday 23 June, until 11pm and tomorrow, Monday 24, from 7am to 3pm. The percentage of voters at the polls is decreasing compared to the first round (21.75%), when however people also voted on Saturday afternoon; and not on Monday morning.
Municipalities on the ballot
Among the most important challenges are that of Bari, Florence and Perugia but eyes also on Caltanissetta, Campobasso, Lecce and Potenza. No candidate from these cities obtained more than 50% of the votes in the first round (8-9 June). The center-left won in 10 municipalities in the first round (Bergamo, Cagliari, Cesena, Livorno, Modena, Pavia, Pesaro, Prato, Reggio Emilia, Sassari and). The centre-right has already conquered cities such as Ascoli, Avellino, Biella, Ferrara, Forlì and Pescara.
Bari
In Bari, Vito Leccese, from the centre-left, starts in front of the stagewith 48%, up Fabio Saverio Romitofrom the centre-right, with 29.1%. Michele Laforgia (who came third in the first round) will support Leccese in the run-off. TO Lecce the challenge arises again Adriana Poli Bortonecenter-right, which came close to victory with its 49.95%, and Carlo Salvemini, centre-left, stuck at 46.3%.
Florence
The challenge will be between the mayoral candidate of the centre-left coalition, Sara Funarowho enters the second round with an advantage of 10 percentage points, against the civic candidate supported by the centre-right, Eike Schmidt. For Funaro, nephew of the mayor of the 1966 flood Piero Bargellini, it is the great opportunity to become the first female mayor at Palazzo Vecchio. The outgoing councillor PD to Welfare, thanks to the 43% of votes obtained in the first round, will this time also be able to count on the endorsements of the candidates of Italia Viva And 5 Star Movement, Stefania Saccardi (7.3% of votes) e Lorenzo Masi (3.3%). In fact, if the Renzians did not give any indication of their vote, it was the regional vice president Saccardi to express his preference for Funaro after the pressure coming from the dem world with which he governs in the Tuscany region.
The same goes for Masi who after the agreement failed in the first round with the Dems has sided in favor of Funaro, also in view of the birth of a ‘broad camp’ in Tuscany where up until now the Five Star Movement has often been in opposition. The candidate of Democratic Florence, Cecilia Del Re (6.2%), instead of leaving the Democratic Party after the failed primaries in the winter, she did not take sides but announced her intention to remain in opposition in the City Council in any case. The candidate of the radical left is also on the same line, Dimitrij Palagi, which received 5.4% of the vote in the first round. On the other hand, hoping for a turnaround, there is the former director of the Uffizi currently at the helm of the Real Museo e Bosco di Capodimonte, Eike Schmidt which at the beginning of June had stopped at 32.8% of votes and in recent days has closed an official agreement with Francesca Marrazza of the civic list RiBella Florence (0.5%).
In Caltanissetta the protagonists of the ballot are Walter Calogero Tesauro (centre-right, 34.42%) and the civic of the progressive area Annalisa Maria Petitto (30.82%). TO Vercelli challenge between Roberto Scheda (centre-right, 37.87%) e Gabriele Bagnasco (25.60%). Last-gasp ballot a Cremona Between Alessandro Portesani (43.11%) e Andrew Virgil (42.11%); to Urbino Between Maurizio Gambini (47.96%) e Federico Scaramucci (44.73%)
In Campobasso face to face between the centre-right candidate Aldo De Benedittis (48.31%) and that of the centre-left Marialuisa Forte (31.89). TO Power a ‘large’ centre-left behind the progressive candidate Vincenzo Telesca (32.4%), who has worked in recent days and obtained the support of the M5S and the Basilicata Possible list, which however is chasing the centre-right candidate, Francesco Fanelli (Lega), strong with its 40.6%.
In Perugia, the centre-left candidate Vittoria Ferdinandi is in front with 49.01%, while Margherita Scoccia of the centre-right is chasing a lead (48.29%). Here the run-off promises to be a last-gasp affair because the difference in votes between the two aspiring mayors was 598. Furthermore, the third wheel Massimo Monni (1.24%), after meeting the two candidates, he sided with Ferdinandi but speaking of “personal choice”. With the center-left too IV.
The polls will be open today until 11pm and tomorrow, Monday 24th, from 7am to 3pm. According to what is learned at the Interior Ministry, the ballot in the 101 Municipalities in regions with ordinary statute is monitored on the website Eligible of the Ministry of the Interior, as well as that relating to the Municipality of Monserrato (Cagliari), on the basis of a specific agreement with the Sardinia region. The data from the balloting in the three municipalities of Sicily (Caltanissetta, Gela and Pachino) are not disseminated on the Eligendo platform provided directly by the Sicilian Region on its web and institutional channels.
In relation to the 102 Municipalities monitored on Eligendo, the Interior Ministry specifies that 95 municipalities have a population of more than 15 thousand inhabitants, the municipality of Urbino is on the ballot because, despite not having a population greater than 15 thousand inhabitants, it is the capital municipality and therefore applies the electoral system of the higher ones. Six municipalities have a population of less than 15 thousand inhabitants and are going to the ballot because in the first round the same number of votes was recorded for two mayoral candidates. The three municipalities in Sicily all have a population of more than 15 thousand inhabitants.
