By GiLar
The day of silence and voting has arrived in Calabria. Voting operations will begin this afternoon and will affect 132 municipalities, in practice a third of the Calabrian municipalities. We will vote together with the European elections and the polls will open from 3pm today until 11pm, and then tomorrow from 7am to 11pm.
There is great anticipation to understand what will happen when the counting operations begin on Monday 10 June which will begin at 2pm for the administrative elections, while for the European elections it will be indefinitely as soon as the polling station closes on Sunday at 11pm.
While in the Municipalities where the run-off will take place, and in Calabria it concerns a provincial capital, namely Vibo Valentia and then Corigliano-Rossano, Montalto Uffugo and Gioia Tauro, it will take place on 23 and 24 June 2024.
In Vibo Valentia they will compete for the highest municipal seat, there will be Enzo Romeo supported by the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, the Green Left-Freely Progressive Alliance and a civic list.
However, there are six party and non-party lists, Forza Italia, Fratelli d’Italia, the “Independence” movement and three civic ones, which have coalesced around the name of the centre-right mayoral candidate Roberto Cosentino, director of the Calabria Region, who aims to take over from the outgoing Maria Limardo, also from the centre-right and not re-proposed as mayor. Also in the running are centrist Francesco Muzzopappa, supported by Azione, Italia Viva, Noi Moderati, UDC, Southern Italy and some civic groups, and Marcella Murabito, supported by Rifondazione Comunista.
While in Corigliano-Rossano it is really almost a “wide field”, where the Pd and M5s support the outgoing mayor, Flavio Stasi, who also enjoys the trust of the Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra and the civic movements “Corigliano Rossano Pulita”, “United for Stasi” , “Città libera”, “Corigliano Rossano futuro” and “Gente di mare”, for a total of eight lists. Competing with Stasi for the seat of mayor is, for the centre-right, the regional councilor of Forza Italia Pasqualina Straface, former mayor of Corigliano Calabro when the merger with Rossano was yet to come, supported by eight lists: in addition to the ‘blue’, there are Fratelli d’Italia, Lega, Azione con Calenda and the civics “United for Corigliano-Rossano”, “Popular civic for a living city”, “City of the future we moderates” and “Movement of the territory”. Over 71 thousand voters called to the polls.
Then among the municipalities with more than 15 thousand inhabitants there is also voting in Montalto Uffugo in the Cosentino area, where there are three challengers, Biagio Faragalli, Mauro D’Acri and Emilio Viafora.
All eyes are on the Piana in Gioia Tauro, the other municipality with more than 15 thousand inhabitants and here the challenge is between four candidates, Renato Bellofiore, Mariarosaria Russo, Simona Scarcella and Rosario Schiavone.
The challenge in Cittanova will also be interesting, with under 15 thousand inhabitants, but which goes to the polls with great attention on who will be the successor of the mayor Francesco D’Agostino who, although he could have run again, gave up. Competing for the position of mayor will be Domenico Antico, Alessandro Cannatà, Domenico Bovalino and Anselmo La Delfa.
Two municipalities are returning to the polls after the dissolution of their respective elective bodies due to the mafia: Soriano Calabro, in the Vibonese area, and Portigliola, in Locride. However, there will be no voting in San Luca, where no candidacy for mayor has been presented. Bruno Bartolo, outgoing mayor, in office since 2019, elected after a period of administration of the institution due to failed elections due to the absence of candidates, has in fact decided not to stand again.
