'A blurred picture emerges from local vote in Italy' (Struggles in Italy)

A blurred picture emerges from local vote in Italy

While European social-democratic forces celebrate the victory of the socialist Hollande in the French Presidential race, the administrative and mayoral elections held in Italy seem to provide a more blurred and nuanced picture.

Berlusconi’s party, the PDL, dramatically lost consensus, dropping to a meagre 8.2% in L’Aquila (still a ghost town after the 2009 earthquake), and 12.7% in Genoa. The same happened to the Northern League, weakened by the recent financial scandals involving its founder Umberto Bossi, his sons Riccardo Libertà and Renzo, and other high-ranking members such as Rosi Mauro (former vice-president of the Parliament’s Lower Chamber). Only Flavio Tosi, the outgoing mayor of Verona, secured re-election after the first round, with a safe majority of 57%: his stance as “renovator” in the Northern League seems to have preserved his personal credibility even with the general crisis of his party.

Political forces of the center-left are ahead in the race, with the few exceptions of Lecce, Catanzaro, and Verona; however, these elections represent a defeat of the right-wing forces more than a victory of the Italian left. The electoral gains of the PD and the SEL (Sinistra Ecologia Libertà, the main post-Communist formation resulting from the split of the former PRC, Communist Re-Foundation Party) seem to be in the 0.5-2% range.

... full story at Struggles in Italy.