[ad_1]
Aor the regional elections and the constitutional referendum on Sunday and Monday, the parties of the left coalition in Rome emerged stronger. Monday night’s projections showed that a clear majority of nearly 70 percent of the electorate approved of reducing the two houses of parliament by a good third each. In the region of Tuscany, ruled by the left for five decades, the Social Democrats were able to defend their power. Overall, however, the trend that has existed for about five years has continued, whereby the parties of the center-right alliance are taking power in more and more regions. While in 2014 the left held the presidency in 16 of the 20 regions, right-wing politicians rule in 15 regions after the elections on Sunday and Monday.
Matthias Rüb
Political Correspondent for Italy, Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.
The five-star left-wing populist movement, in particular, campaigned for the reduction of parliament from a total of 945 seats to 630 seats. However, the other large parties on the left and right also approved the motion by voting in both houses of parliament. With the clear approval of the constitutional amendment in the referendum, the five stars were able to curb their steady downward trend since their triumphant victory in the March 2018 parliamentary elections. Chancellor Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement spoke on the night of a “historic result”.
Giorgia Meloni politics of the hour
In the presidential and parliamentary elections in seven of the twenty regions, there was only one change of power in the Marches. In the particularly contested “Red Tuscany”, Social Democratic candidate Eugenio Giani prevailed with 49 to 40 percent against Susanna Ceccardi MEP of the right-wing nationalist Lega of former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. For Salvini, the renewed failure to crush a “red fortress” in regional elections spells another personal defeat. Also in the regional elections of Emilia-Romagna in January, the challenger chosen by Salvini failed against the candidate of the ruling Social Democrats. However, Lega was satisfied that night: “If the data is confirmed, Lega and its partners in the center-right alliance will be behind the wheel in 15 of the 20 regions as of tomorrow,” she wrote on Facebook.
Unsurprisingly, the ruling candidates of the Lega’s center-right alliance, Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist “Brothers of Italy” party, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s liberal-conservative “Forza Italia” were able to defend their positions with a clear majority in Veneto and Liguria. Luca Zaia de la Lega won in Veneto with a record result of almost 75 percent, in Liguria Giovanni Toti, who started his career with “Forza Italia”, prevailed with a good 55 percent. In Campania, unsurprisingly, the Social Democratic regional president Vincenzo De Luca was confirmed in office with 67 percent of the vote. In Marche, however, there will be a change of power: there the challenger of the “Brothers of Italy” prevailed over the candidate of the left with 49 to 37 percent of the votes. In Apulia, the regional Social Democratic president was able to defend his position with 46 to 39 percent against his rival from “Forza Italia”. In the Aosta Valley, the Lega de Salvini became the most powerful political force.
There will probably be no early parliamentary elections
With the victory of the Social Democrats in Tuscany, party leader Nicola Zingaretti, who has been regional president in the central Italian region of Lazio since 2013, was able to consolidate his last weak position at the top of the party. Within the center-right alliance, the trend towards a shift in the balance of power of the Lega Salvinis in favor of Giorgia Melonis and his “brothers from Italy” has been confirmed.
The power position of the split left-wing coalition of five stars and Social Democrats in Rome under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has been consolidated after the first elections since the outbreak of the Sars-COV-2 pandemic in late February. Strict rules of distance and hygiene apply in the election. Polling stations remained open until 3 p.m. Monday to avoid crowds. The snap parliamentary elections sought by the right-wing opposition before the regular end of the legislative term in March 2023 are completely unlikely in view of the constitutional amendment to reduce the size of parliament, which was approved by the people. First of all, the parliament must now pass a new electoral law and the re-allocation of electoral districts, which should not happen until 2021. In Rome, most political observers believe that Prime Minister Conte, who is not part of the party , he will be able to lead his governing coalition until the regular end of the legislative term in 2023. At most, there could be a change in cabinet.
