Lecce and Urbino, two cities that for very different reasons ended up under the eye of the storm right in the middle of the election weekend due to some controversial initiatives by exponents of the left, were both won by the centre-right coalition. Adriana Poli Bortone becomes mayor of the Salento capital for the third time in its history: torn from ballot the leadership of the Municipality which was in the hands of Carlo Salvemini, the outgoing mayor who ended up defeated by the former Minister of Agriculture. Ends 53%-47% in favor of Poli Bortone, former mayor of Lecce from 1998 to 2007, who had come close to winning the first round two weeks ago by a handful of votes.
The city had hosted a little big mystery on Saturday 22 June, when the television broadcaster Telerama had discovered Michele Emiliano meet some behind closed doors, in defiance of the rule on electoral silence managers of the Lecce Local Health Authority. Although a member of the Democratic Party had tried to downplay the situation by talking about a simple face-to-face meeting with “some friends belonging to different social and professional categories to also talk about the ballot in Lecce“. A version that had not at all convinced the center-right alliance, which immediately announced a exposed in the prosecutor’s office.
Beyond the possible judicial nature, this sudden entry by the President of the Puglia Region was certainly anything but appropriate: almost as if he were hunting for votes in the Cesarini area and what’s more when it could no longer be done by law election campaign. As if that wasn’t enough, yesterday evening the site Fifth Power had reported that Emiliano had sent a message on WhatsApp to multiple contacts, in which he strongly invited them to urge all contacts to go and vote: “The turnout is low – he wrote -. Mobilize everyone and ask them to go and vote. Voting until tomorrow at 3pm. Come on, come on, voting is a right, but also a duty. Spin everywhere“. But in Lecce all these (incorrect) efforts were of no use.
Just as the pseudo attempt at intimidation carried out was of no use Urbino by Gianluca Carrabs, former regional councilor of the Marche and current exponent of the Green-Left Alliance in sending a series of voice messages with a vaguely threatening tone to a candidate of the League: “I can still help you. Send me a photograph of your vote and I will free you, otherwise you will end up like everyone else, I feel sorry for you“, he said. This episode was also reported to the Judicial Authority, referring to a “alleged attempted fraud contained in a voice message sent by a centre-left candidate to a representative of the opposing coalition“.
Even in this circumstance all this fuss was rather useless: Maurizio Gambini he was reconfirmed mayor for the next five years. The definitive data coming from the counting of the polls reveals that the local representative of the centre-right obtained 52% of the valid votes of those who went to vote, while Federico Scaramucci – despite having formed an alliance with Maria Francesca Crespini of the “Futura” civic list – must be satisfied with the remaining 48% of this ballot. No away success, therefore, for the wide center-left field.
Furthermore, for the parties that have been governing the country for more than a year and a half, other victories have also arrived in the runoffs held yesterday and today. Such as a Rovigo, with the clear victory of Valeria Cittadin of 58% against Edoardo Gaffeo of the 5 Star Movement. TO Vercelli Roberto Scheda wins with 55%, opposed to the centre-left candidate Gabriele Bgnasco. With substantially the same result in terms of percentage also comes the success of the center-right a Caltanissettawith Walter Tesauro new mayor of the Sicilian city which is thus torn away from the Grillina council that had led it for the last 5 years.
In general, in the provincial capitals, the center-left wins 17 to 11. But for the opposition there is very little to laugh and celebratebecause since the Meloni government took office the forces of the so-called “wide field” he only managed to win in other no less important competitions: European ones first and foremost, but then also all the regions that went to the vote (excluding Sardinia) such as Lombardy, Lazio, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Molise, Trentino and Abruzzo. Not to mention the clear victory in the local elections in the spring of 2023 where the center-right tore away the red stronghold Ancona.
All three parties of the blue coalition did well in the elections for the renewal of the European Parliament two weeks ago, even improving their performances at the polls. In short: if the left is truly convinced that the wind has changed this afternoon, they are very much deluding themselves.
