The right-wing coalition of the , has managed to save the furniture in the municipal elections held between Sunday and this Monday in more than 700 municipalities in the country, according to exit polls and the first provisional results. The victory of – the most important square at stake – and the reconquest of Reggio Calabria, in the south, have allowed the conservative coalition to avoid a clearly negative reading of the election day and maintain a competitive position at the territorial level.
On a national scale, after weeks of fighting with the opposition and with a weakened Government following the electoral setback in the referendum on justice reform, the polls have given Meloni a break. In this way, these important local elections – interpreted as a test bed for the Executive in the final stretch of the legislature, one year before the general elections – have been prevented from becoming, after the defeat in the referendum, a new political setback for the Government.
These elections were observed with particular attention in the transalpine country due to their value as a political thermometer to assess the real state of Meloni’s leadership. The objective with which the coalition that supports the central Executive — Brothers of Italy, of Giorgia Meloni, the League of Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia of Antonio Tajani — came to the polls was to preserve positions and avoid losses in strategic cities, such as Venice (250,000 inhabitants).
There, the first provisional results and the exit polls gave a clear advantage to the conservative candidate, councilor Simone Venturini, successor to the outgoing mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, who has governed the city for the last decade. According to the first data, with 70% of the votes counted, Venturini obtains close to 52%, compared to the senator of the Democratic Party and the progressive bloc’s bet Andrea Martella, who would remain below 40%.
Late in the afternoon, when his victory was practically assured, Venturini was celebrating that Giorgia Meloni had called him to congratulate him and had confirmed that she would soon visit the city to work together on some important issues. The tourist overexploitation of the city has been one of the most debated topics during the campaign.
The city was the most sought-after place, as it is the only regional capital at stake in this round of elections. The latest polls that had been published gave a slight advantage to the progressive candidate, but based on the results published by the media and the exit polls, the right-wing candidate has managed to prevail.
This enclave was also important because it had become the political laboratory of a broad left-wing coalition around the candidate Andrea Martella, conceived as a possible alliance model that could extend to the general elections of 2027. Throughout the electoral campaign, analysts have considered Venice as an important test to measure the viability of a unitary alternative to the compact right led by Giorgia Meloni.
In fact, in the last days of the campaign, different representatives of the national center-left parties traveled to the city to show their support for the progressive candidate, such as Giuseppe Conte, leader of the 5 Star Movement, or the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein.
Change of hands
On the other hand, in the south, the right has found another cause for celebration in Reggio Calabria (170,000 inhabitants), which will change hands. After more than a decade governed by the left, the right has managed to reconquer the city with its candidate, Francesco Cannizzaro, who has won more than 70% of the votes.
These elections in the last year of the legislature, although they are local votes, are considered relevant on a national scale because they will serve to measure the strength of the two main blocs that will compete for the Government of Italy in 2027.
The prime minister has congratulated the winning mayors and has sent a message to her detractors, vindicating the capacity for resistance of the conservative coalition: “And, also today, we leave the much-announced collapse of the center-right for tomorrow,” she wrote on her social networks.
Matteo Salvini’s League has received a symbolic blow that aggravates its internal crisis, by losing the first town council it conquered after its founding in 1990, that of the small northern town of Cene, where it had governed uninterruptedly until now. The new mayor will be Roberto Radici, who is not affiliated with any party.
More than six million Italians (around 11% of the country’s electorate) from 745 municipalities were called to the polls in elections that have been perceived as an important test for Giorgia Meloni after the electoral setback in the referendum on justice reform, especially considering that the legislature is in its final stretch and that there will be general elections next year.
This electoral event is a key test bed for Meloni’s Executive, since it offers the right opportunity to measure the solidity of the prime minister’s leadership after losing in March the referendum on the reform of the judiciary that she had turned into her great workhorse.
If the result given by the first scrutiny data is confirmed, the confidence of the center-right coalition is reinforced and, for the moment, the incipient great progressive coalition proposed by the left is affected.
Although the center-left has also been happy in these elections in several cities where it has managed to resist. Like Prato, in Tuscany, in the traditional ‘red’ bastion of the transalpine country, where the progressive candidate Matteo Biffoni has won more than 55% of the votes. He has achieved victory despite the fact that this northern city was intervened since the previous mayor, from the Democratic Party, Ilaria Brugetti, resigned for corruption.
It has also taken small towns such as Avellino, in the south, or Pistoia, in the center of the country, from the right.
In eight of the 18 provincial capitals that were called to the polls, the game has been left open and a second round will be necessary, in the absence of majorities this Monday, which will be held on June 7 and 8.
