«Thanks to Bari for the great electoral result. It is an extraordinary result that goes beyond expectations.” The first words of Vito Leccese, 62 years old, new mayor of Bari, immediately after the verdict at the polls, are full of emotion. The former centre-left parliamentary candidate won the run-off in the Apulian capital hands down, obtaining 70.27%. The young opponent, the 36 year old Fabio Romito, stopped at 29.73%. And now Leccese is preparing to take the baton from the hands of Antonio Decaro, elected by a landslide to the European Parliament and of which he was head of cabinet.
The reactions
In the committee, with the background notes of Bella Ciao, the celebration and the embrace of Decaro himself and the governor Michele Emiliano to the newly elected mayor. And alongside Leccese there was also the other competitor in the first round and candidate from the other part of the centre-left, Michele Laforgia, who came third. «I appreciated the phone call from Romito who acknowledged the defeat and wished me good luck in my work. And I thank Michele Laforgia – underlined Leccese – who forced me into a tiring campaign in the first round, but in light of political commonality and friendship, for 15 days he and his coalition have loyally supported me, allowing us all to find ourselves in the same coalition made up of ideals and values that will inspire us in the government of this city.” Laforgia, which was also supported by the M5s, obtained around 21% of the votes in the first round and supported Leccese in the run-off, effectively reuniting the centre-left coalition which had initially split in the shadow of an electoral campaign lived on the wave of poisons due to judicial investigations and arrests for political-mafia exchange votes. It is no coincidence that the new mayor also underlined the phone call from PD secretary Elly Schlein “who came here three times: I felt she was close and confident even when she was scared by the division of the coalition and today we can celebrate the victory of the united centre-left” . «In the next few days – highlighted Leccese – we will resume the formation of the government team with the rediscovered coalition. After that I think I will also have to return to the places where I campaigned. In particular, I would like to be the mayor of all those who did not participate in the vote because they no longer believe in the power of politics over their future, I would like to restore their trust in the institutions, in what Decaro has transformed into the citizens’ institution. I will try to continue in the wake of this experience.” Then, he added, «I claim a political fact, the most important choice in terms of innovation: today we have five women presidents of the five municipalities. Bari – he concluded amid applause – is a city that wants to move forward so let’s go.”
The centre-right defeated
Meanwhile, the opponent who emerged defeated at the ballot boxes underlines the flop of the turnout which stopped at around 37%, more than 20 points less than in the first round. «Best wishes to Vito Leccese, new mayor of Bari in continuity with the previous administration. Politics – these were Romito’s words – will have to ask themselves some questions because the new mayor was chosen by just over a third of the population. It means that the majority of Bari is not passionate about the electoral campaign and has chosen not to be passionate about these administrative elections and I believe that politics must really start from here.”
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