On paper there are 4 lists with 4 mayoral candidates, but the challenge will only be between two. In Giardini Naxos, a tight battle is predicted for the conquest of Palazzo dei Naxioti, after a troubled council that ended with the forfeiture of the mayor Giorgio Stracuzzi and a six-month commissionership.
Agatino Salvatore Bosco, 65, is trying again to win the mayorship, trying again for the third time after 2015 (defeated by 3 votes by Nello Lo Turco) and 2020 (beaten by Giorgio Stracuzzi), now presenting himself with a large coalition with the centre-right parties, the Democratic Party and civic forces.
On the opposite front, Salvo Puccio, geologist, 54 years old, former general manager of the Municipality of Messina and a long series of roles as a regional official. A leading exponent of the South calls the North in the Naxio town, deploys a main list in his support and two other companions with “owl” mayoral candidates Alfredo Elia Mandri and Rosalba Cannizzaro, given that the majority system allows only one list linked to the mayoral candidate.
Voters are then instructed to cast a split vote, with preference for the councilor candidate from one of the three lists but exclusively for Puccio as mayoral candidate. A step backwards for Giuseppe Rodi, who had announced his return to the field but withdrew.