Elections in Abruzzo, exit poll: Marsilio ahead of D'Amico
The outgoing governor supported by the entire center-right over the challenger from Campo Largo
First the head-to-head, then the advantage of the centre-right candidate, according to the first exit polls on the regional elections in Abruzzo. With the polls closed at 11pm, the data commissioned from the Noto institute by the local broadcaster Rete 8 was made public
According to the first release, the outgoing governor Marco Marsilio (supported by Fratelli d'Italia, Lega, Forza Italia and Noi Moderati, to which are added the Union of the Center and the civic list "Marsilio Presidente") was given between 48, 7% and 52.7%. The centre-right coalition that supports him would travel within a range of 49.7% to 53.7%.
The challenger Luciano D'Amico, former rector of the University of Teramo (supported by a centre-left coalition formed by the Pd, the 5 Star Movement, the Green-Left Alliance and Action, as well as by the civic lists “Abruzzo Insieme-D'Amico Presidente” , “Reformists and Civics” and “Abruzzo Vivo”), according to the first exit polls he was between 47.3 and 51.3%, with a coalition that would be one point below him.
The gap between the two, with Marsilio starting to gain an advantage, widened with the release of updated exit polls just before midnight.
The electoral campaign
As happened in Sardinia, all the national leaders also arrived in Abruzzo for the electoral campaign, including a fair number of ministers. For the centre-right, the prime minister Giorgia Meloni, the secretary of the League Matteo Salvini and the secretary of Forza Italia Antonio Tajani, as well as Lorenzo Cesa (UDC) and Maurizio Lupi (We Moderates) showed up together in Pescara.
Like it or not, the leaders of the wide field also followed the same pattern as in Sardinia: all involved, but each on their own, because D'Amico, like Todde, wanted to give a regional imprint to the challenge. Thus both the president of the M5S Giuseppe Conte and the secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein and the leader of Action Carlo Calenda made electoral tours, but with separate agendas. Todde also arrived in Abruzzo to support D'Amico. Unlike the Sardinian one, in Abruzzo the vote was a dive into the purest bipolarism: the electoral system provides for a clear vote, without that possibility of disjunction which in Sardinia favored the broad field, with many voters putting the cross centre-right symbols and then on Todde's name. As the data from the count in Abruzzo becomes more refined, the parties will also be able to evaluate weights and balances of power within the coalitions: in the centre-right the League hopes to hold its position, while Forza Italia aims to overtake it and FdI to increasingly consolidate its primacy. In the broad field the game is on the leadership of the possible alliance: in Sardinia the Democratic Party overtook the M5s, but in Abruzzo, at the last regional elections and in the 2022 political elections, the M5s obtained better results than the Democratic Party.
The call to vote
Given the importance attributed to the challenge, with the parade of the big names on both sides in the last week, the calls to vote were incessant, continuing even during the hours of electoral silence. With fiery chats. And tam tam among the citizens. On the centre-left side, the activism of the non-locals. With Abruzzo students who have relaunched offers on trains to return to their place of residence. The train, however, is not the only means of increasing participation.
The bus from Campania
A bus left from Naples with about fifty Neapolitans living in Abruzzo on board. Voting paper in hand. Accompanying the Campania group were the regional coordinator of Forza Italia Fulvio Martusciello and senator Francesco Silvestro. «There are many Neapolitans who live in the province of L'Aquila», explains Martusciello, «many friends who have asked us to go to the polls together. Thus the idea of making a bus was born. Let's vote together and win together."
Challengers to the vote
The two presidential candidates voted in their respective polling stations. Wearing a gray turtleneck and dark jacket, the outgoing president of the Abruzzo region arrived just before 12 at the elementary school in the Tricalle neighborhood of Chieti. After inserting the ballot into the ballot box, there was a brief exchange of words with a representative of the PD list who greeted him with a high five. Then he wished the presidents and scrutineers well in their work.
A few minutes later, in Pescara, his opponent Luciano D'Amico showed up with his staff at the polling station of the 'Illuminati school, a few steps from the seafront. Jacket and tie, and shaking hands with the citizens, who greeted him by calling him professor. Then, both at home. A few hundred meters away from each other.
In the final stages of the election campaign, Marsilio was sure he could announce his victory around half past one. D'Amico was convinced that we had to wait at least 4 to have a consolidated result. The latter is a sign of the trust placed in a battle until the last vote.
Silence violated
Meanwhile, confirming a fiery electoral campaign up to the moment of counting, comes the controversy over the violation of electoral silence. Marsilio's anger was unleashed by a broadcast hosted by Marco Travaglio on Saturday evening. According to the outgoing president, the director of Il Fatto held "a rally peppered with slander". Accusations that intersect with those of the Abruzzo senator of the 5 Star Movement Gabriella Di Girolamo. Who insists: it was Marsilio who "fueled the controversy to violate the silence". For the M5s, the two deputy prime ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini would also have violated the silence. The leader of Forza Italia published a simple sentence on X: «Forza Abruzzo, Forza Italia! Good mark". The leader of the League publishes a collage of images of his electoral campaign in the Region and writes: «So many smiles, so much energy in Abruzzo!».
(Unioneonline)
