A Florence, Bari, Perugia, Potenza and Campobasso, the five regional capitals on the ballot, the center-left is spreading, having already conquered Cagliari in the first round. “Red” victories also in Cremona and Vibo Valentia. TO Lecce, Rovigo, Caltanissetta, Vercelli and Urbino instead the center-right wins.
Counting began at 15pm in the 105 cities called to vote for the runoff. Eight provincial capitals are added to the 5 regional capitals in the second round: Avellino, Caltanissetta, Cremona, Lecce, Rovigo, Urbino, Verbania, Vercelli and Vibo Valentia. Of the fourteen large cities on the ballot, eight to date were governed by the centre-left (of which two with mayors from the M5s), five instead were led by the centre-right. The only exception is Avellino, administered by an independent mayor.
One of the most important data concerns the turnout which, for the second round of the administrative elections, stopped at 47,71% of those entitled to vote, a sharp drop compared to the first round when it was 62,83%.
Sara Funaro wins in Florence
The counting has just begun Sara Funaro's lead was already unbridgeable. In the end, the PD candidate won with 60,6% of the votes, compared to 39,4% of the centre-right candidate, the former director of the Uffizi Eike Schmidt. Elly Schlein, national secretary of the Democratic Party, called Sara Funaro on the phone to congratulate her. “Today's joy is indescribable. Sara Funaro was a great councilor. She will be a great mayor of Florence", commented the outgoing mayor and new EU parliamentarian, Dario Nardella.
“I'm a little excited, I say it sincerely. I feel the great emotion of all these months, of being the first citizen of Florence. It was a very long and beautiful marathon,” said Funaro.
Quite low the turnout which, also thanks to the city holiday (San Giovanni is the patron saint of Florence), stopped at 47,83% from 58,17% in the first round.
Bari: Vito Leccese is spreading
Even bigger victory for Vito Leccese in Bari. The centre-left candidate exceeded 70% of votes, while Fabio Romito, running for the center-right, is under 30%. In the Apulian capital, the turnout was 37,67% against 58,17% in the first round.
“Best wishes to Vito Leccese, the new mayor of Bari in continuity with the previous administration. Politics 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 has not been passionate about the electoral campaign and has chosen not to be passionate about these administrative elections and I believe that politics must start from here", said Romito, taking Leccese's victory for granted.
The centre-left also wins in Potenza, Perugia and Campobasso
A few months after the regional elections which consecrated the success of the centre-right, the centre-left candidate Vincenzo Telesca takes revenge on Potenza and becomes mayor with 64,9% of the votes. Francesco Fanelli, candidate of the centre-right, has 35,1%.
A Perugia after the head-to-head in the first round, Vittoria Ferdinandi of the center-left won with 52,1% of the votes. Margherita Scoccia, centre-right, received 47,9%. The centre-left therefore takes back the leadership of the city (in the past considered a red stronghold) after 10 years of centre-right leadership.
Moving on to Molise, a Campobasso, the center-left surprisingly wins. Mayoral candidate Aldo De Benedittis, initially seen as the winner in the first round but then forced into a run-off due to a counting error on the split vote, stopped at 49% against 51% for the centre-left candidate Marialuisa Forte.
Certain victory also to Cremona: with 50,4%, Leonardo Virgilio of the centre-left was confirmed as mayor, beating Alessandro Portesano of the centre-right, stuck at 49,6%. TO Vibo Valentia, with the counting almost complete, the candidate from the broad camp Enzo Romeo is ahead, with the first data giving him 53,9% against the centre-right candidate Roberto Cosentino, at 46,1%.
The victories of the center-right
A Lecce, is heading towards a photo finish victory for the centre-right candidate Adriana Poli Bortone, who obtained 50,5% of the votes. The challenger Carlo Maria Salvemini, who has already admitted defeat, collected 49,5% of the votes. Shortly before the start of the counting, Poli Bortone presented a complaint to the prosecutor's office against the president of the Puglia Region Michele Emiliano who, according to her, had violated the electoral silence during a meeting of the hospital heads of Lecce. Speaking on a local TV, Emiliano had in fact said that he was in the city to support the candidacy of Carlo Salvemini, the outgoing centre-left mayor.
Victory for the center-right also in Caltanissetta where Walter Calogero Tesauro won with 52,4% of the votes against 47,6% of the centre-left challenger Annalisa Petitto (44,5%). Success for Valeria Cittadin a Rovigo: the centre-right candidate obtained 58,2%. Edoardo Gaffeo is at 41,8%.
A Vercelli, Roberto Scheda, supported by Lega, Fratelli d'Italia, Forza Italia, obtained 54,22% of votes compared to 45,8% of Gabriele Bagnasco, candidate of the Democratic Party and Italian Left-Greens. TO Urbino Maurizio Gambini won (53,1%), a manager in the agricultural sector supported by the centre-right. He beat Federico Scaramucci (46,9%) of the center-left.
In Verbania and Avellino the civics win Giandomenico Albertella and Laura Nargi.
What happened in the first round: 10-5 for the center-left
In 15 capitals the elections ended in the first round and one of the candidates exceeded 50 percent of the votes. How did it go? Ten out of fifteen cities were won by the centre-left: Bergamo, Pavia, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Prato, Livorno, Cesena, Pesaro, Sassari and Cagliari, while the center-right won in Biella, Ferrara, Forlì, Ascoli, Pescara and Avellino. The centre-right won in Biella, Ferrara, Forlì, Ascoli Piceno and Pescara.
Wanting to update the numbers with the results of the ballots: the center-left wins 17 to 10, winning all six regional capitals in the vote.
Curiosity: a Zerba, a municipality of 71 inhabitants in the province of Piacenza, the balloting ended again in a draw: the two candidates, Giovanni Razzari and Claudia Borrè, got 28 votes each, as in the first round. According to Italian law, in these cases the oldest candidate is elected. The mayor of Zerba will therefore be Giovanni Razzari, who is 73 years old.
(Last update: 18.13 on 24 June).
