The ballots smile on the center-left which retains Bari and Florence with a clear but evident result even before the end of the counting. The governing coalition is left with the meager satisfaction of the victory in Lecce, but it is also behind Potenza. Polls closed at 3pm for the 105 municipalities voting. The negative trend in turnout continues, which suffers a drastic drop compared to the first round and stops at 47.71% against 62.83% 15 days ago. There are 14 provincial capitals called to choose their mayor.
Florence
In the Tuscan capital, the celebration of the centre-left candidate Sara Funaro begins early, supported by the Pd, M5s (but also, in dissent from Renzi, by the IV candidate, Stefania Saccardi), who leads her opponent Eike Schmidt by over twenty points, when there are still a handful of sections left to scrutinize. However, the turnout stopped at 47.64% against 64.75% in the first round.
Bari
Avalanche of votes in Bari for Vito Leccese (“campulargo” Pd + 5 Stars), who does not blame the judicial blow of the investigations rained down on the municipal and regional administration nor the internal disagreements in the broad camp. The man chosen by the opposition leads Fabio Romito (centre-right) by more than 30 points, with 70.26% against 29.74%. Turnout is also decreasing here: 37.53% against 58.17% in the first round.
Perugia
The challenge in Perugia is more uncertain, where Ferdiandi (centre-left) wins over her opponent Margherita Scocci, with 53.63% of the preferences against 46.37%. Abstention also increases in the Umbrian capital where 60.64% voted against 65.63 in the first round. This is the most uncertain challenge among those of the big cities, which ended in the first round with a narrow advantage for the candidate from the wide field.
Lecce
In the other large Apulian municipality the challenge seems to be turning in favor of the centre-right. Here the ballots proceed slowly and when 11 out of 102 sections have been scrutinized, based on the Interior Ministry data published on the Eligendoo website, the candidate representing the government majority Adriana Poli Bortone is ahead (at 53.57%), while the candidate of the centre-left Carlo Salvemini has 46.43%.
Power
The centre-right, and above all the League, also takes Potenza, where Vincenzo Telesca, civic but also supported by the Democratic Party, leads the man from the Northern League, Francesco Fanelli with 65.21% against 34.79% (just ten sections missing ).
Campobasso
The outcome of Campobasso is more uncertain, with the centre-right in the lead. The counting of the ballots is still ongoing, with 18 sections scrutinized out of a total of 56, but Aldo De Benedittis is ahead with the 51.5% of votes. Continued Marialuisa Fortewhich has so far collected the 48.5% of preferences, with the support of Democratic Party, 5 Star Movement, Green and Left-Psi-Civic Alliance.
