More than 700 municipalities to vote on, including 17 provincial capitals and a regional capital, Ancona in the Marche region. It’s the countdown to local elections in the spring. An electoral session divided into two parts – the first, on the 14th and 15th of May for voters from the Regions of ordinary status, the second, two weekends later, for those from Sicily and Sardinia – and which can be considered a first political test for parties and leader, exactly one year before the 2024 European elections.
The centre-right – which is united everywhere except Massa, where the FdI backs one of its candidates – aims to confirm its mayors and increase its lead over the centre-left by winning key capitals like Ancona and Brescia. Precisely in Brescia, unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will end the electoral campaign on Friday night, in a rally that will see her on stage together with the Deputy Prime Ministers of Lega and Forza Italia Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani. The unitary demonstration repeats last Monday’s in Ancona, where Meloni focused his speech on labor issues – after the May 1 decree that withdrew the basic income – and institutional reforms.
Themes, such as the problem of high rents for university students, were also addressed in his wanderings through the territories of the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein. The dem’s aim is to replicate the success already achieved in Udine in centre-right ‘fiefdoms’ such as Pisa and Siena. And in the two Tuscan towns, unsurprisingly, the secretary will hold the closing rallies on Friday, with mayoral candidates Paolo Martinelli and Anna Ferretti.
On the M5S front, Giuseppe Conte’s party differentiates itself from the dem by supporting its own candidates in Ancona, Brescia, Imperia, Massa, Siena, Terni, Treviso and Vicenza, in several cases in coalition with the Popular Union. On Friday, Conte will spend the day in Puglia, with a final stop in Brindisi to take the sprint to pentastellato candidate Roberto Fusco. The Puglia city chosen by the former prime minister to end the campaign is also one of the few major centers where the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement perform together, along with Latina, Pisa and Teramo (as well as Catania and Syracuse, where the polls will open on the 28th and 29th of May).
A separate chapter is that of the Third Pole: after the split between Matteo Renzi and Carlo Calenda at the birth of the single party, Ação and Italia Viva are running together in just four cities, including Vicenza in coalition with the dem. Finally, all eyes are on turnout: a dwindling number, which suffered a real drop in February’s regional elections.
Source: IL Tempo

Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.