Estimates met. At least on dry results. The final regional game of the season ended in a 2-1 left-center win. In essence, the three regions called to vote have not declared radical changes. In short, there was no “hard blow”, predicted by Schlein who, at the end of the vote, limited himself to saying: “Redemption begins from the south”. In Veneto, the center-right continued to govern with the League as the first party (a success referred to as the “Zaia effect”). Regional Secretary Alberto Stefani received 63% of the vote. Here the personal results obtained by the former governor, leader in all constituencies, are then firmly underlined. And Salvini himself admits it. In Campania, former Chamber president Roberto Fico replaced De Luca with 61% of the vote, while in Puglia, the region’s government remained in the hands of the center-left whose voters elected Antonio Decaro for the post-Emiliano period with 64% of the vote.
Concluding the vote, from Johannesburg, where he was attending the EU-African Union summit, came Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s praise for the new governors. Regarding Stefani’s victory in Veneto, the prime minister underlined that this was a victory “the fruit of work, credibility and seriousness of the coalition”. Then he also congratulated the other two winners: “Congratulations also to Antonio Decaro in Puglia and Roberto Fico in Campania on their election. May they carry out their mandate as well as possible, in the interests of the citizens of the countries they represent.” And he closed his speech with thanks to Edmondo Cirielli and Luigi Lobuono, as well as to “all the men and women of the center-right who have committed themselves to this round of elections”.
However, the real winner of this round of elections is abstentionism. Only 43.65% of those eligible came to the polling station. Compared to 57.60% in the previous election. All interested parties (both winners and losers) have sounded the alarm about the low turnout in the vote. Carlo Calenda (Action) went so far as to define these regional elections as “useless championships”, where “those who govern win because they exercise power and meanwhile more and more citizens flee the elections”.
In Veneto, all eyes are on the League results. Yang remained the party with the most votes, increasing (almost doubling) its favorability compared to the previous election (however, Zaia’s list obtained more than 40% of the vote). In short, no overtaking. Carroccio conquered 35% while Fratelli d’Italia stopped at 18%. The majority party expressed particular satisfaction with Veneto. And we look at each side’s results to find differences and slight adjustments. Giovanni Donzelli (FdI), for example, underlined that his party continues to grow. As a result, they doubled their political power in percentage terms in these three regions. And in Veneto, support more than doubled.
The Democratic Party leader beamed at Roberto Fico’s election committee in Naples. “The alternatives exist and they are competitive,” the slogan says. And he added: “The comeback starts in the south”, referring to the results of Puglia and Campania, where in fact the center-left is already in command and forgetting the recent results in Calabria (where the center-right won a landslide). In short, “united we win” was the mantra that all Democrats (from Bonaccini to Giani) and many other exponents of the broad camp began chanting after the polls closed. Like Italian senator Raffaella Paita: “Decaro’s clear victories in Puglia and Fico’s in Campania confirm what we have been repeating for months: center-left coalitions are credible if they are united and if they contain a strong and visible reformist component.” Meanwhile, Giuseppe Conte is actually proud. The leader of the Cinquestelle preferred to underline the conquest of Grillini’s two governors (after Todde in Sardinia it was Fico’s turn). “We have gone from zero to two”, said Conte. The Forza Italia secretary also looked at the party’s results and placed them in the overall picture of the most recent regional elections (seven including Valle d’Aosta, where the Azzurri are councillors).
“The situation remains the same as before: with three regions where the left has confirmed itself, three regions where the center-right has confirmed itself, plus Valle d’Aosta”. Meanwhile Maurizio Lupi (We as moderator) considered the enthusiasm shown by Conte and Schlein to be very important: “Given the existing data, I don’t think they can claim victory”.
