There is always a first time, also for the center -right in a Bolzano that has always been a stronghold of the coalition between Suadtiroler Volkspartei (SVP) with the center -left parties, Christian Democracy first and then Democratic Party. Claudio Corrarati, entrepreneur lent to politics who has been able to join the center -right forces and ‘welcome’ to a wing of the Svp.
Corrarati is the new mayor of Bolzanobifronte cities where the two German and Italian linguistic groups coexist. Bolzano, the northernmost provincial capital in Italy, where the cost of living is notoriously very high, has always had an Italian mayor of the center -left since the post -war period and a Deputy on the SVP. In the headquarters of Corrarati’s headquarters, the vice -president of the autonomous province of Bolzano but above all ‘soul’ of Fratelli d’Italia in South Tyrol, Marco Galateo, spoke of “election of the century for Bolzano”.
In the course of the ballot scrutiny, Corrarati has always been the lead in the rival Juri Androllo, an outgoing councilor for social policies at the altitude of the Democratic Party. At the end of the ballot, shortly after midnight, the party scream was raised in the headquarters of Corrarati for the victory with 51.03%, or 708 more votes than Androllo (48.97%). Corrarati is a mayor elected with the lowest turnout at the urns ever, only 42%, and with a city divided in half and with various problems, primarily safety. The new mayor has lost the challenge in the historic center of a majority of German -speaking citizens who preferred to vote on continuity: the Suadtiroler Volkspartei, this time, had not given indications of votes, or left the ‘blockfrei’.
It should be noted that the SVP is to the provincial government together with the center -right and now, with 7 seats, could join the 17 of the center -right forces (7 brothers of Italy, 6 beyond Weiter, 2 Lega, 2 Forza Italia) to form the majority in the city council. Corrarati instead won in the neighborhoods where the electorate is by majority of Italian language, Oltrisarco-Aslago, Europe-Novacella and Don Bosco and who asks for a clear change compared to the past. Change also in Merano, the second city of South Tyrol. The new mayor is Katharina Johanna Zeller. The exponent of the Suadtiroler Volkspartei obtained 57.4% leaving the first outgoing citizen Dario by the doctor to 42.6% who united a series of center -right civics. Zeller, lawyer, outgoing deputy mayor, is the daughter of Senator Julia Unterberger and ex senator Karl Zeller. After ten years a first citizen of the Svp returned to Merano: the last had been Guenther Januth (2005-2015). Following the defeat of Dal Dal doctor, in South Tyrol out of 116 municipalities, the mayors belonging to the Italian linguistic group remain only two, Bolzano with Corrarati and Bronzolo with Giorgia Mongillo.