As it immediately became very clear to everyone, the “flood mayors” have been reconfirmed, all of them. In the province of Ravenna, but also outside. In Cesena and Forlì, both mayors from opposite sides won in the first round. And if we broaden our gaze beyond the flooded territories, in general the mayors have been reconfirmed (just think of Ferrara, where Alan Fabbri was re-elected despite his party, the League, having suffered a steep collapse in the last five years).
Where the candidates were new faces, the vote still confirmed the political force in office, the voters chose the candidate suggested by the outgoing mayor, as is the case in Cervia, Lugo, Bagnacavallo. The local administrative vote is once again confirmed to be dominated by dynamics of closeness, trust and contact. Even if sometimes in a perhaps a little confusing way (it is not always clear to everyone what is the responsibility of a mayor and what is the responsibility of other bodies), in general we all have the impression of being able to really measure what a mayor has done or He did not do. And the mayors were all promoted with flying colours. Because they are certainly good, but perhaps also because in general today the word “change” risks causing more fear than anything else.
Perhaps there is a sort of semantic shift taking place, so if until recently the idea of changing implicitly made one automatically think of an improvement, today this is no longer the case. Above all, this is no longer the case in the terrors devastated by “climate change”, now perhaps the most widespread collocation of this term. Conserve and preserve have become two watchwords of environmentalists, for example.
And it is perhaps all too easy to add that in addition to the major environmental issues, even on a social level the hope is now above all that of being able to maintain at least what one has, after having already lost so much (from the spending power of salaries to pensions up to ten and several months of waiting list for some visits in public health).
And perhaps it is precisely in this reversal of perspective, where progressives risk being passed off as conservatives and historically conservatives as a not necessarily desirable novelty, that one of the causes of the abstentionism that continues inexorably to grow should be sought. This is the “real” political opponent of the near future, the one to beat for those who are running for office: the vote shifts remain, as we have seen, largely within a political area, and it will be whoever manages to make the difference. bring or bring back to the vote those who, disillusioned, increasingly choose to stay at home. And this in the political proposal may not be a bad thing at all, abstentionists are not interested in bickering or personal quarrels. To bring them back to the polls we will need recognizable and practicable ideas and proposals.
