Around 11 and a half million voters called to vote until Monday to choose the governors in Veneto, Campania and Puglia and their respective regional councils. With a partial data recording on Sunday evening a significant drop in turnout in Veneto (almost 6 percent, compared to the 2020 session) and in Puglia (almost 4 percent), and a figure similar to that of the previous elections in Campania. The figures provided by the Interior Ministry at 7 pm indicate a turnout of 29.31 percent for Veneto, 23.67 percent in Puglia and 25.87 percent in Campania, less than one point below 5 years ago when the bar had reached 26.5%.
However, the data is not absolutely comforting, even after the leaders’ appeals to vote. With these three Regions, a long electoral round ends which lasted for months and also saw the citizens of Marche and Val d’Aosta (28 September), Calabria (5 October) and Tuscany (12 October) called to the polls. On Monday from 3pm it will be possible to draw conclusions in the challenge between the centre-right and centre-left, without forgetting some internal showdowns between the two poles and also within the individual parties, such as those of the outgoing governors Luca Zaia and Vincenzo De Luca. In Veneto and Campania, the two outgoing presidents unsuccessfully pursued the attempt to introduce the possibility of a third mandate, which was stopped both by politics and then by the Constitutional Court. Zaia was unable to convince the League and its allies of the opportunity to present his own list and ran with his party. If on the one hand, through preferences, the “Doge” will be able to help Salvini compete with Fdi to have the laurel of the most voted party, on the other, his very significant personal success would also give him a political role at a national level, some sectors of the League reason.
In Campania, however, De Luca will not be in the running, but the “head held high” list refers to him and his administrative experience. And inevitably a “competition” opens with the lists of the Democratic Party, of Elly Schlein but also of her son Piero, regional secretary of the Dem. Even for the former governor of Campania, an exploit of the list would push him to build a new political role. In Campania, however, the centre-right hopes for a “remontada” by Edmondo Cirielli on Roberto Fico. This is demonstrated by the fact that several exponents of Fdi (such as Sergio Rastrelli, Domenico Matera, Marco Cerreto and Marta Schifone) on Saturday violated the electoral silence to relaunch the controversy with the candidate for president of M5s on the berth in the military port of Nisida at super discounted prices. This infuriated the 5 stars who counterattacked with Michele Gubitosa who spoke of the arrogance of the power that goes against every rule and every principle. A tension that was also recorded on Sunday when Giuseppe Conte returned to the topic from Sicily: “While we are here talking and getting indignant, there are people who are campaigning without even going around. They sit and move 10, 20, 50 thousand votes on the phone. They are rotten systems, of mafia political exchange, proven patronage systems. We ask for a vote based on our battles, they move votes by standing still. They don’t even go around campaigning.”
“We respect the rules, I respect the electoral silence. They instead take advantage of it, even with exponents of the Brothers of Italy, to tarnish Fico, who is a very honest person with excellent morality. They should be ashamed, for remaining wallowing in the mud, I respect the electoral silence.” The center-left feels confident in holding Campania, with a very large field that goes from the centrists to M5s, as in Puglia. Here to compete for the succession Michele Emiliano is the former mayor of Bari Antonio Decaro, champion of preferences in the European elections a year ago, and Luigi Lobuono. Even in Puglia, an electoral exploit by Decaro would project him, according to some reformist exponents of the Democratic Party, as a possible reference for this Dem component. As regards Veneto, in addition to the challenge between the candidate of the centre-right, Alberto Stefani and that of the centre-left, Giovanni Manildo, the eyes are focused on the competition between Fdi and Lega to be the first party, also in view of the regional elections in Lombardy.