Seats closed at 3 pm, counting of the ballots for the 2021 administrative elections began.
About 12 million Italians called to the polls to elect the mayors and municipal councils of the major Italian cities. The turnout at the national level was around 54.6% (a general decline). In previous consultations, in 2016, the figure had been 61.5% but on that occasion it was possible to vote in just one day.
Here are the first exit polls, municipality by municipality.
ROME - In the first trends, Enrico Michetti (center-right) and Roberto Gualtieri (center-left) were given head to head, in front of the outgoing mayor Virginia Raggi (M5S). But the situation is constantly changing. According to the Swg projections for La7, the heads up is three: Michetti is given at 29.9-33.9%, Raggi at 21.1-25.1% like Gualtieri, with Calenda at 15.1-19.1%. Head to head more marked between Michetti and Gualtieri, however, in the first screening for Opinio-Rai: for both the fork is between 27 and 31%. Virginia Raggi (M5s) is at 17-21%, Carlo Calenda at 16-20%. In the new “consolidated” data of Swg for La7, Michetti reaches a percentage of 31.8%, Gualtieri comes back second with 24.1%, Raggi at 21.1% and Calenda at 18%.
The turnout collapses: in the first round 48.83% of those entitled voted. Five years ago the turnout was 57.03%.
MILAN - Outgoing mayor Beppe Sala towards victory in the first round. The center-right challenger Luca Bernardo is detached. on the basis of the first SWG projection for La7, at the municipal in Milan Sala reaches a fork of 56.2-60.2 followed by Luca Bernardo (center-right) with 27.2-31.2. This figure is more or less confirmed by the first projections of the Opinio Italia consortium for Rai, according to which Sala reaches 56%, Bernardo 33.9%. According to the second SWG projection for La7, Sala is at 57%, Bernardo at 31.5%. There is also a figure on the lists: among those that support Sala at the head of the Pd at 34.1% and Lista Sala at 8.4%. Among those who support Bernardo Lega at 12.6%, Fratelli d'Italia 8.1% and Forza Italia 7.1%.
Net drop in turnout, to the point that less than one out of two Milanese voters went to the polls, a figure that has never been verified in the city: in fact, when the polling stations closed, 47.6% voted against 54.6% in 2016, when it was voted in a single day. In 2011, the turnout was much higher, 67.5%.
TURIN - In Turin, the center-right and center-left candidates, Damilano and Lo Russo, are in front, while the candidate of the 5 Star Sganga Movement is given a clear gap. Based on the first SWG projection for La7, Stefano Lo Russo (center-left) reaches a fork of 40.6-44.6% in the municipal offices in Turin, followed by Paolo Damilano (center-right) with 36-40%. Based on the first projection of the Opinio Italia consortium for Rai, Lo Russo reaches 44.3%, followed by Damilano with 40.4%.
In Turin the final turnout of voters remained well below 50%: 331,488 voters showed up in the 919 seats, equal to 48.06% of the 689,684 eligible voters, the worst result in history in the Piedmontese capital. In 2016 alone, the percentage of voters at the polls remained below 60%: in the first round 57.18%, in the second round 54.41%.
BOLOGNA - Lepore (center-left-M5S) could do it in the first round. Based on the first SWG screening for La7, the candidate Matteo Lepore (center-left) reaches a fork of 58.2-62.2 in the municipalities in Bologna, followed by Fabio Battistini (center-right) with 27.7-31.7%. In the first screening of the Opinio Italia consortium for Rai, Lepore is at 62.6%, followed by Battistini at 27.6%.
As for the turnout, the figure stopped at 51.16%. In 2016 it was 59.66%.
NAPLES - According to the exit polls, the candidate Pd-M5S Manfredi is clearly ahead. Based on the first Swg projection for La7, Manfredi reaches a fork of 60.9-64.9%, followed by Catello Maresca (center-right) with 15-19%. The second SWG screening for La7 also sees Manfredi at 60.2%, Maresca at 19.5%.
Instead, the definitive figure for the turnout to seats in the city of Naples is 47.19%: a sharp decrease compared to the 2016 administrative ones (54.12% voters in the first round) but there was an increase of one percentage point compared to last autumn, when 46.1% of those entitled voted in the Campania capital.
- UPDATING -
(Unioneonline / lf)