The Democratic Party (PD) in coalition with other center-left formations has triumphed in the second round of the partial municipal elections that were held this Sunday in Italy and has snatched bastion cities such as Verona and Catanzaro from the right, sending a message to the planned general elections in 2023.
This Sunday two million Italians elected their mayors in 65 municipalities in the second round of the partial municipal elections, which had been held on June 12, as no candidate had achieved more than 50% of the votes.
The size of the victory is explained by observing that in the 13 provincial capitals in which they voted, the center-right had 10 mayors and the center-left 3, and after these elections the progressives came out with 7 victories and the conservatives with 4, of which that 2 are civic lists.
Although the real protagonist was abstention, since participation reached 42.19% compared to 54.11% in the first round, which had already set a negative record.
The centre-right, which had conquered Genoa, Palermo and L’Aquila in the first round, concluded the second round with victory in Lucca, Sesto San Giovanni and Frosinone, but lost in historical strongholds such as Verona, where the confrontation between the allies of the right made Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia present its own candidate.
The surprise in Verona, governed for the last 15 years by the right, was the victory of former Roma footballer Damiano Tommasi, supported by the center-left and other parties such as Azione and Europa, who got 53.4% of the vote against the outgoing mayor Federico Sboarina.
Repercussions were feared in the center-left alliance after the split in the 5-Star Movement following the departure of one of its leaders and Foreign Minister, Luigi di Maio, but finally Enrico Letta’s Democratic Party triumphed with its strategy of the so-called “camp broad”, that is, a broad alliance with all the formations of the center and left.
“The unit pays, we have always said that and tonight we have had confirmation. Seriousness and responsibility are rewarded. The wide field that had been mocked, have turned against those who did it because it has been seen that it is the correct strategy,” Letta said after learning the results.
And the “broad field” also triumphed in Catanzaro, where the right had governed for 16 years, with Nicola Fiorita, the candidate from a civic list supported by PD and M5S, who beat Valerio Donato by getting 58% of the vote. .
Donato was an example of the division that reigns in the center right with the fight between its leaders Matteo Salvini of the League and Giorgia Meloni of Brothers of Italy, since the latter presented their own candidate, thus dividing the consensus.
The alliance between PD and M5S also won in Parma where Michele Guerra got 66% of the votes and beat Pietro Vignali, supported by the League and Forza Italia but not by Meloni’s party.
The centre-left also won in Piacenza with Katia Tarasconi, in Alessandria with Giorgio Angelo, in Cuneo with Patrizia Manassero, in Monza with Paolo Pilotto and until this Sunday only in Parma and Cuneo.
While the center-right won in Barletta with Cosimo Cannito, in Frosinone with Riccardo Mastrangeli, in Lucca with Mario Pardini and in Gorizia with Rodolfo Ziberna: where it already ruled in all but Lucca, while in Como and Viterbo they won by supporting two civic lists .
The leaders of the right have not yet expressed themselves about this blow and only the League sent the statement to the media by the head of the local party bodies, Stefano Locatelli, who stated: “The divisions have penalized the center-right and increased abstention. It serves as a lesson for everyone: when you fight and divide, the center-right loses.”
Analysts point out today that Liga and Forza Italia suffer from the prominence of Giorgia Meloni, whose party has become the most voted in the coalition.
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