Matteo Salvini, former Interior Minister of Italy, casts his ballot at a polling station to take part in the referendum on the judiciary.
Photo: picture alliance / dpa / LaPresse / AP | Alessandro Bremec
In all probability, the winner of the election and the new mayor of Palermo will be Roberto Lagalla. The candidate from the centre-right coalition of Lega, Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) and Forza Italia (FI) prevailed against his competitors from the centre-left coalition with about 45 percent of the votes. According to the electoral laws in force in Sicily, the candidate who beats the 40 percent quota can declare himself the winner. A run-off election – as required elsewhere – is not required here. The election of Lagalla, the former rector of the University of Palermo, ended Leoluca Orlando’s era. The politician of the Democratic Party (PD) held the office of mayor for five electoral terms and for decades was not only the political face of Palermo, but also an activist in the fight against the mafia.
That should change now: Roberto Lagalla’s election campaign took place under the shadow of the Cosa Nostra; his sponsors – ex-Sicily regional president Salvatore “Toto” Cuffaro and Berlusconi confidante Marcello Dell’Utri – were both convicted of mafia connections. Lagalla himself demonstratively stayed away from the commemorative events marking the 30th anniversary of the assassination of anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone. And despite fierce protests, he did not distance himself from the relatives of his wife Maria Paola Ferro, niece of Agrigento’s mafia boss Antonio Ferro.
Centre-left wins in Verona
Lagalla’s campaign opponent, the centre-left candidate Franco Micelli, was unable to assert himself with just under 30 percent of the votes, nor was Fabrizio Ferrandelli (18 percent), who was nominated by the “Azione+Europa” alliance. On the one hand, the disunity of the center-left spectrum enabled the right-wing election victory, on the other hand, it is the “unacceptable electoral law in Sicily” that makes it possible to get a candidate through with 40 percent of the vote, said Francesco Boccia, the PD representative responsible for local politics. “In any other region, such an outcome would lead to the necessary run-off election, then the centre-left forces would still have a chance of asserting themselves.”
Unlike in Palermo, the candidate from the centre-left alliance surprisingly prevailed in Verona: Damiano Tommasi benefited from the dispute between the Lega and the post-fascist FdI. Although the two party leaders Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni demonstrated unity shortly before election day, the fierce competition between the two politicians for the top position in the right-wing camp initially saw the centre-left as a laughing third party. Neither the outgoing mayor Federico Sboarina (FdI) nor his predecessor from the Lega, Flavio Tosi, were able to achieve significant results.
Salvini is losing ground
The fact that the Lega candidates are unable to assert themselves in this year’s local elections is a major blow to party leader Salvini. The head of the Lega, who was traded a few years ago as the upcoming leading force, seems to be on a political decline.
Not only does his close friendship with Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin bring him a lot of antipathy, the strong competition from the FdI coming from the right is also digging the water out of the traditionally strong right-wing parties such as Lega and Forza Italia. Even within his own ranks – such as the Minister for Economic Development, Giancarlo Giorgetti, or the governors of Veneto and Friuli/Venezia Giulia, Luca Zaia and Massimiliano Fedriga – Salvini is increasingly coming up against fierce criticism.
The failure of the referendum on judicial reform should also be grist to the mill of Salvini’s opponents. One of the aims of the referendum was to abolish a law that would prevent those convicted of criminal offenses from running for political office six years after serving their sentence. The referendum ended in a debacle, only 14.8 percent of those entitled to vote voted at all – the minimum quorum of 50 percent was a long way off on the evening of election Sunday.