The first, decisive verdict from the polls in the province of Messina came on Sunday from RACCUJA which, for the administrative elections of 24 and 25 May 2026, reconfirmed Ivan Martella as mayor.
In the small Nebroid centre, where the electoral challenge was linked to exceeding the quorum due to the presence of a single list, the threshold of 50.0% of voters was officially reached and exceeded in the late afternoon of the first day of voting. For Martella the preferences were 518.
No pathos for the quorum not even in MIRTO, where the CGIL trade unionist Maurizio Zingales (with 489 votes) was reconfirmed mayor for the third term in a row.
Already on Sunday, in fact, 383 voters had gone to the polls at 8pm and this made it possible to ascertain that the expected threshold of 50% had been exceeded.
The quorum was also exceeded in SAN SALVATORE DI FITALIA where Giuseppe Pizzolante was reconfirmed as mayor.
The outgoing mayor, the only candidate, needed 50% of the voters and, at 6.30 pm, they were already on the threshold of 58%, thus making the election official. As a result of the ballot, he was awarded 726 votes.
ALI’ TERME
With 830 votes compared to his opponent’s 786, Alessandro Triolo prevailed over Tommaso Micalizzi in Alì Terme. The percentages collected are 51.36% to 48.64% respectively.
Barcelona
With a turnout that stopped at 66.86% (recording a -1.13% compared to the previous round, when it settled at 67.99%), the challenge of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto currently gives a head-to-head between the candidate Barbera (3,069 votes) and Scolaro (3,056), while the opponent Bongiovanni follows but with a substantial gap (1,648). In percentage terms and with the counting still underway, Bongiovanni would currently receive 21.20% of the preferences, while Barbera and Scolaro divide the remaining slice, with 39.48% and 39.32% respectively.
BASIC’
Filippo Pelleriti wins (Basicò nel cuore). For the mayor elected 212 votes (equal to 53% of the preferences).
Nothing to do for Antonio Cotone (Basicò Ieri, Oggi e Domani), defeated by only 24 preferences (188, 47%).
NAXOS GARDENS
In the end, the third time was the triumph. Palazzo dei Naxioti has a new tenant: it is Agatino Salvatore Bosco, 65 years old and with 2,745 votes, who after the unfortunate parentheses of 2015 (when he came close to being elected by just three votes) and 2020, manages to crown a very long political run-up, winning the leadership of Giardini Naxos with 51.69%.
The political data emerging from the Naxio polls is clear: the complex electoral machine set up by Salvo Puccio (2,457, 46.26%), a fifty-three-year-old geologist and leading exponent of the South Calls North movement, was not enough. The candidate from Cateno De Luca’s camp could in fact count on 33 candidates for the City Council, spread across three lists: the main one and two “owl” lists (led by Rosalba Cannizzaro – 43 votes – and Alfredo Elia Mandri – 66) built ad hoc to capitalize on the cross-voting mechanism.
GRANITES
Carmelo Lo Monte is mayor of Graniti.
594 votes (54.8%) were enough for him to surpass his competitor Francesco Lo Giudice (who did not go beyond 45.2% with 490 votes).
REMOVE
In Limina the outgoing mayor Filippo Ricciardi was re-elected for the fourth time with 377 votes (66.96%), clearly surpassing Jenny Spadaro, the first female mayoral candidate in the country, stuck at 186 votes (33.04%).
In support of Ricciardi, the “Popular Will” list also wins, destined to express the entire new council, with entries already indicated for Sebastiano Musumeci and Pamela Bartolotta. The turnout remains low: out of 1,756 voters, 32.63% vote, down compared to 2020. In a less heated electoral climate, many voters chose Ricciardi more to avoid the return of Marcello Bartolotta than out of enthusiasm for the political project. Today, however, despite the victory, a less enthusiastic and more divided political picture emerges: Ricciardi wins, but the challenge of reuniting a community remains open.
MALFA
In the challenge against Maurizio Isaja (133 votes) and Claudio Saltalamacchia (98)… the victory was won by Giuseppe Siracusano (Noi per Malfa) with 371 votes equal to 61.63% of the preferences.
EVIL
Nino Panebianco.
It will be up to him, elected with 225 votes (51.84%), to govern the municipality after beating Rita Mungiovino by just 16 votes (her opponent collected 209, with a percentage of 48.16).
MERI’
With over 150 votes, Giusi Cicciari becomes the new mayor of Merì, the first in the history of the Meriese municipality.
A significant victory over his opponent Nino Siracusa, former deputy mayor. There was great enthusiasm in Cicciari’s electoral headquarters from the moment he distanced himself decisively from his challenger. Giusi Cicciari was group leader of the outgoing opposition.
MILAZZO
When 40% of the votes have been counted, the outgoing mayor Giuseppe Midili, supported by centre-right civic lists, has 53.9% of the votes.
He is followed by Laura Castelli, candidate of ScN, of which he is president, who has 17.1% of the votes, and Michele Vacca, Pd-M5s-Prc with 14% of the votes.
NOSE
Gaetano Nanì (Progetto Futuro) 1,352 and 56.69%, Daniele Letizia (Let’s start again together for Naso) 1,033.
SAPONARA
After an exhausting head-to-head, with only 8 votes difference Maria Spidalieri is the new mayor of Saponara.
The former president of the City Council prevailed (with 114 votes, equal to 48.71% over the former mayor Giuseppe Merlino (1116 votes with a percentage of 48.36) and Giuseppe Rizzo (67 votes, 2.93%). A tense climate experienced within the electoral offices until the last ballot.
SAVOCA
In Savoca the outcome of the vote was a foregone conclusion: the outgoing mayor, Massimo Stracuzzi, was already certain of reconfirmation given the lack of real opposition.
Although formally two sides presented themselves, the second list was still the expression of the same political structure. In terms of participation, 993 voters expressed their opinion out of the 1,700 eligible voters (including around 300 residents abroad registered with Aire). The final turnout in the three sections stood at 58.51%, recording a clear decline (-14.85%) compared to the 73.26% of the last electoral round. Massimo Stracuzzi won the alliance of 820 voters, equal to 92.03% of the votes, while the motion in support of “Vivi Savoca” collected 841 votes (95.35%). The symbolic challenger to the office of mayor, Charmel Pio Informante, garnered 71 preferences (7.97%) with the “Savoca forever” list stopping at 41 votes (4.65%). In the final count there were also 81 void ballots and 21 blank ballots. In terms of balance in the chamber, Informante will not gain the council seat reserved for the second most voted mayoral candidate, since he did not reach the minimum threshold of 20% of the preferences; however, access to the City Council should still be guaranteed to him thanks to the personal preferences obtained as a candidate on the second list.