the cities to vote today and tomorrow, from Vicenza to Catania it’s a Meloni-Schlein- Corriere.it duel

The break-in finished, time for exams. Especially for the two challengers of Italian politics, Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein. Lthe first has long since stopped saying I’ve just arrived, the second would probably have liked to be able to remember for a longer time that I wasn’t there until yesterday. The premier, after a few small jolts, has started to grow againand still navigates with a decidedly higher percentage than the one that led it to win the September elections.

The secretary of the Pdafter a first paw, now grappling with the specter of minus zero point. Matthew Salvini he seems to have understood that Risk cannot be won with a single roll of the dice, and from time to time he puts small comebacks on the farm with the strategy of the little ant. Silvio Berlusconifresh from the perilous battle of the hospitalization at San Raffaele, still the prime mover of Come on Italy. Hard times for Joseph Contewho gasps not to see the result of the political elections slip through his fingers, with Virginia Raggi silent in the shadows waiting for the opportunity to lead the gods Five stars of the first hour. The Third pole has almost not arrived, torn apart by the challenge between Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renziand in trouble in a local vote which, precisely because of its characteristics, does not favor it.

The first half

The administrative vote, in fact. The first leg was won four by two by the centre-right (Treviso, Sondrio, Imperia and Latina against Brescia and Teramo). Tomorrow evening the results of the return match, those of the ballots. The fate of Ancona, Pisa, Siena, Massa, Vicenza, Terni and Brindisi was decided. But also watch out for the first round of voting in Sicily, where in Catania, Syracuse, Ragusa and Trapani, according to the regional law, it is enough to exceed forty percent by one vote to bring home the mayor.

Municipal elections are the favorite terrain of the professionals of the I may not have won, but I certainly have not lost. There is always a handful of local micro realities to put in the basket on the evening of the results. But it’s a little game that has short legs, because, self-evidently, not everyone can win, votes are counted and above all weighed, and there are some litmus papers that don’t give discounts. The first is called Ancona, the capital of the Marches, among the last strongholds of what was, for decades, the impregnable fort of the red regions. The center-right forward, the center-left chases and hopes for the ballot paper, which traditionally favors it. But if it were the government that prevailed, it does not escape the fact that the picklock effect would be devastating for the Democratic Party. Not gone unnoticed the judgment of Giorgia Meloni on Emilia-Romagna, defined as one of the locomotives of the country. An acknowledgment, of course, but also a reassuring footing placed in a reality that evidently does not consider itself intangible.

The reform factor

Precisely the issue of the ballot finds a point of friction in Pisa, which together with Siena and Massa represents an unhealed wound for the Democratic Party. In the city of former Pd secretary Enrico Letta, the center-right did not win in the first round by a handful of votes. An unlikely reversal would pave the way for appeals on the ballots canceled two weeks ago, but above all he would put his finger on the wound of the double shift. For the risk that, to decide who will be mayor, it could be a much smaller percentage of voters than the first call. a theme that does not only concern Pisa, but is reflected in the debate on presidentialism (or premiership): with the reform, should one vote in one round or in two?

The challenges of Vicenza and Brindisi remainwith Terni where the center-left is out of the game anyway.

It seems complicated, but in reality to understand who will have won and who will have lost a multiplication table helps: five years ago the centre-right had eight mayors: Vicenza, Sondrio, Treviso, Imperia, Massa, Pisa, Siena and Terni. The centre-left five: Brescia, Ancona, Latina, Teramo, Brindisi. To get an idea, it will suffice to keep the final bill, certainly balanced with the weight of the various cities.

The disputed island

But that’s not enough, of course. Because there will also have to be reckoned with the vote of Sicily. Above all in the most important municipality, Catania, the centre-right has invested a lot. In some way, the vote on the island, for the whole coalition and for Matteo Salvini in particular, will also be an opportunity to test the grip on the voters of the bridge project over the Strait.

Last question, participation in the vote. The progressive decline in voter turnout is now a fact that politics has been dealing with for some time. It signals a growing disaffection that can only worry: the fewer people vote, the more organized pressure groups can play a role. But, looking for a positive element, in part it can also be a sign of a mature democracywhere whoever wins is entitled anyway.

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