Italy’s center-left coalition claims victory in municipal elections

By Michele Novaga

MILAN (AA) - Italy’s center-left coalition emerged victorious in municipal elections, according to exit polls Monday, triumphing in Milan, Naples and Bologna, where their mayoral candidates won in the first round.

Italian municipal elections were held on Oct. 3-4 to renew the councils and mayors. Among the 1,154 municipalities involved were the most important cities in Italy: Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Turin and one region – Calabria -- which had to elect a new governor after the death of the previous one, Jole Santelli, last October.

More than 12 million people were eligible to vote, but only 54.7% went to the polls in the major cities. Unexpectedly, the level was even lower in Milan, where the turnout was 47.69%. In Rome it was 48.83%, in Turin 48.6% and in Naples 47.18%.

Voting was also held in the capital Rome, where the second round will take place on Oct. 17 and 18.

Two opponents – Roberto Gualtieri and Enrico Michetti -- will contend for the highest seat of the city. The same will occur in Turin, where in the run-off, the center-left candidate Stefano Lo Russo and center-right candidate Paolo Damilano will face off.

In the second largest city, Milan, incumbent mayor Beppe Sala, who has been in office for the last five years, was re-elected in the first round against the center-right candidate, pediatrician Luca Bernardo.

The same happened in Bologna, where Matteo Lepore, the representative of the Democratic Party, the largest center-left party, won against Fabio Battistini, and in Naples where Gaetano Manfredi defeated the center-right candidate Catello Maresca.

In Calabria, where the left parties and lists were split, the center-right candidate Roberto Occhiuto got more than 50% of the votes, so he is the new governor of the southern region.

In addition to the aforementioned municipalities and the Calabria region, an important test was represented by the elections in two districts for the Chamber of Deputies. In one of these, Siena, the chairman of the Democratic Party and former prime minister Enrico Letta managed to win and he is now a member of the Italian parliament.