In the mayoral elections, the centre-right gained two towns from the centre-left, whilst retaining control over three Tuscan towns. The centre-left narrowly took victory in Viacenza, whilst an independent took Terni against a centre-right candidate.
As Deputy PM Matteo Salvini mocked the ‘Schlein effect’ on Twitter, the centre-left must have been quietly licking their wounds.
The centre-right won five of seven provincial capitals in mayoral run-offs on Sunday and Monday. Meanwhile, the centre left won one, Vicenza, and an independent another, Terni.
The centre-right took Pisa, Siena, Massa, Ancona and Brindisi. The three Tuscan victories were holds for the centre right, Brindisi had been ruled by the centre right in the past, but Ancona was a major gain for the majority that rules in Rome.
Ancona a big win for centre-right
After over 30 years of centre-left rule in the Marche capital, the centre right won Ancona. Daniele Silvetti got 51.73% of the vote in the mayoral run-off, beating outgoing centre-left councillor Ida Simonella who got 48.27%.
The centre-right’s Giuseppe Marchionna won the mayoral run-off in Brindisi Monday beating the centre-left’s Roberto Fusco by 54% to 46%. This was a race of interest, as it featured an alliance between the centre-left and the 5-Star Movement (M5S).
This so-called red-yellow alliance was not enough to confirm the centre left in the mayoralty.
The centre-right kept Pisa with incumbent mayor Michele Conti beating centre-left candidate Paolo Martinelli. Conti won 52.23% to 47.77%. This was despite Marinelli being backed by both the centre-left and the 5-Star Movement (M5S) here, too.
The centre-right’s Francesco Persiani was confirmed as Massa mayor beating the centre left’s Enzo Romolo Ricci by 54.6% to 45.4%.
The third Tuscan win for the centre-right was Nicoletta Fabio’s in Siena. She beat the centre-left’s Anna Ferretti in a save for the centre right, also becoming the Tuscan city’s first woman mayor. Fabio got 52.16% of the vote to Ferretti’s 47.84%.
The vote was one of the three in Tuscany, once a leftwing stronghold, that saw centre right candidates prevail again, albeit by a small margin.
Independent Stegano Bandicchi won Terni in a mayoral run-off beating the centre right’s Orlando Masselli. Bandecchi got 54.62% of the cote compared to 45.38% for Masselli.
In the only solace for the centre left, Giacomo Possamai won the Vicenza mayoral run-off with 50.5% of the vote to the centre right’s Francesco Rucco’s 49.5%. Both candidates said it had been a close-run thing.
So much for the ‘Schlein effect’ mocks Salvini
Matteo Salvini mocked “the Schlein effect” referring to the centre-left Democratic Party (PD)’s recently elected leader Elly Schlein.
“Nothing to say: a very good Schlein Effect,” quipped Salvini on Twitter, commenting on the municipal elections.
“Extraordinary results for the League and the centre-right throughout Italy, with historic victories in Ancona – the only regional capital on the ballot, which has always been administered by the left – and Brindisi, a triumph in Tuscany with the re-conquest of Massa, Pisa and Siena, while waiting for the results of the first round in Sicily in which we are very confident.”
Awaiting Sicily mayoral elections’ results
In Sicily, in fact, the centre right was set to win Catania while it was also ahead in most other big cities according to exit polls.
A centre-right mayoral candidate is set to become the new mayor of Catania and a conservative independent in Ragusa. Meanwhile, the race is too tight to call in two other big Sicilian cities that went to the polls, Siracusa and Trapani, according to the exit polls.
Centre-right candidate Maurizio Caserta won between 56% and 60% of the vote in Catania’s local election, according to an exit poll. The centre left’s Maurizio Caserta had 27.5-31.5% of the vote, according to the poll.
In the Ragusa municipal elections, outgoing Mayor Giuseppe Cassì – candidate of five civic lists – is ahead in the exit polls with a range between 59% and 63%.
He is followed, in second place, by the centre-left candidate Riccardo Schinnà with a range between 18% and 22%.
Another exit poll said the mayoral elections in Siracusa look set to go to a run-off in two weeks with no candidate set to get over 50% of the vote. Centre-right candidate Ferdinando Messina is ahead in the exit polls with a range between 24% and 28%. He is followed, in second place, by the centre-left candidate, with the 5-Star Movement (M5S), Renata Giunta with a range between 23% and 27%.
Third place goes to the outgoing mayor Francesco Italia, candidate of some civic lists, with 20-24%.
The race for mayor in Trapani is also tight. Both the centre-right and centre-left candidates are polling in the low to high 40% rang. That is below the 50%+1 needed to win outright without going to a run-off in two weeks’ time.
Centre-right candidate Maurizio Miceli is ahead in the exit polls with a range between 42% and 46%. He is followed by the outgoing mayor Giacomo Tranchida – candidate of the centre-left – with a range between 38% and 42%.
