Municipal Elections: Real Change or Simply Alternation?
in Italian Politics
“Alarm bell” and “wake-up call” for the center-right. And again,
“north wind” and “settling of scores” for the center-left. These are
just some of the descriptions used to analyze the ballot results of the
local government elections held on 9 and 10 June. While the first
round of voting on 26 and 27 May appeared to show votes equally
distributed between the two coalitions, the second ballot seemed to
indicate the victory of the opposition, as a greater number of centerleft
mayors were elected in the various municipalities. This interpretation
was consolidated in the opinions of the political players
involved. In fact, in the fall of that year, Piero Fassino, general secretary
of the Democrats of the Left (DS), commented on the election
results as follows: “We won not only where we had extensive support,
but also in center-right strongholds, where we attracted voters
from the center-right.”
