Amministrative: avanza il centro-sinistra.
Nelle attese elezioni amministrative in programma lo scorso fine settimana il primo dato da constatare è la bassissima partecipazione elettorale. Segno di come sia stato un errore separare le elezioni amministrative da quelle politiche. Ma veniamo ai risultati:
Il centro sinistra, che dai pronostici era dato in seria difficoltà in tutte le più grandi sfide, difende strenuamente, e con risultati superiori alle aspettative, la capitale ROMA, la città di TORINO, NAPOLI e Ancona. A Milano vince la Moratti ma con un distacco molto ridotto. Quanto alla Sicilia, la regione dove è impossibile un ricambio politico, la coalizione di centro-destra del padrino Toto Cuffaro ha perso 10 punti e si segnala un'avanzata (comunque inutile) di Rita Borsellino. Di questo risultato in parte va incolpato anche il centro-sinistra che è reo di aver sostenuto poco la candidata.
Source: Financial Times
Italian mayoral polls boost Prodi’s coalition
By Tony Barber in Rome
Published: May 29 2006
Italy’s ruling centre-left coalition appeared on Monday to have comfortably survived its first electoral test since Romano Prodi, prime minister, defeated Silvio Berlusconi, the former premier, in national elections last month.
In four big cities where mayoral elections were held on Sunday and Monday, Mr Prodi’s alliance looked certain to keep control of Naples, Rome and Turin, and was only narrowly behind in the centre-right stronghold of Milan.
The centre-left coalition needed a good performance in the elections to challenge Mr Berlusconi’s assertion that Mr Prodi’s hair’s-breadth victory in the April 9-10 general election was a fluke or the result of fraud.
The new government has a tiny majority in the Senate, parliament’s upper house, and consists of a multitude of parties that may find it hard to strike compromises when hard choices have to be made about controlling public expenditure.
However, ministers have begun to prepare the Italian public for unwelcome news by stating that the Berlusconi government left the public finances in much worse shape than had been anticipated.
Antonio Di Pietro, infrastructure minister, said on Monday: “There is no money, and the risk is that many infrastructure projects are destined to be put on hold.”
Mr Prodi’s government has made clear it has little enthusiasm for one of Mr Berlusconi’s grandest schemes, a controversial plan to build the world’s longest suspension bridge to link Sicily with the Italian mainland.
On the other hand, businesses and private travellers have long complained of under-investment in Italy’s congested and antiquated road and rail networks, sectors where they would be disappointed to see cutbacks.
Sicilian voters cast ballots on Sunday for the island’s governorship, and early results suggested Salvatore Cuffaro, the centre-right incumbent, was ahead of Rita Borsellino, an anti-mafia centre-left candidate.
On the mainland, the mayoral elections offered another sign of how important mayors have become in Italian political life since a 1993 law provided for their direct election.
Several politicians of national stature were fighting the contests that concluded on Monday, including Walter Veltroni, who is often tipped as a possible future centre-left premier and who easily won re-election as mayor of Rome.
According to early exit polls by the Piepoli institute for SkyTG24 television, Mr Veltroni had a lead of 58 to 40 per cent over Gianni Alemanno, a former agriculture minister under Mr Berlusconi and a leading light of the rightwing National Alliance party.
In Milan, Letizia Moratti, a businesswoman and Mr Berlusconi’s former education minister, was projected to win 49-51 per cent against 48-50 per cent for Bruno Ferrante, the centre-left candidate.
Milan, a centre-right fortress, is the political homeland of Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and the populist Northern League, and the city’s mayoral election was a big test for Mr Berlusconi’s ability to hold his alliance together.
In Turin, Rocco Buttiglione, the Berlusconi government’s culture minister, suffered a thumping defeat, with exit polls projecting that Sergio Chiamparino, the incumbent centre-left mayor, would win by 60 to 38 per cent.
It was a similar if less spectacular story in Naples, where Rosa Russo Iervolino, the centre-left mayor, was projected to win 49-52 per cent against 40-43 per cent for Franco Malvano, her centre-right opponent.
If candidates fail to win more than 50 per cent, run-off elections will be held on June 11-12.
In four big cities where mayoral elections were held on Sunday and Monday, Mr Prodi’s alliance looked certain to keep control of Naples, Rome and Turin, and was only narrowly behind in the centre-right stronghold of Milan.
The centre-left coalition needed a good performance in the elections to challenge Mr Berlusconi’s assertion that Mr Prodi’s hair’s-breadth victory in the April 9-10 general election was a fluke or the result of fraud.
The new government has a tiny majority in the Senate, parliament’s upper house, and consists of a multitude of parties that may find it hard to strike compromises when hard choices have to be made about controlling public expenditure.
However, ministers have begun to prepare the Italian public for unwelcome news by stating that the Berlusconi government left the public finances in much worse shape than had been anticipated.
Antonio Di Pietro, infrastructure minister, said on Monday: “There is no money, and the risk is that many infrastructure projects are destined to be put on hold.”
Mr Prodi’s government has made clear it has little enthusiasm for one of Mr Berlusconi’s grandest schemes, a controversial plan to build the world’s longest suspension bridge to link Sicily with the Italian mainland.
On the other hand, businesses and private travellers have long complained of under-investment in Italy’s congested and antiquated road and rail networks, sectors where they would be disappointed to see cutbacks.
Sicilian voters cast ballots on Sunday for the island’s governorship, and early results suggested Salvatore Cuffaro, the centre-right incumbent, was ahead of Rita Borsellino, an anti-mafia centre-left candidate.
On the mainland, the mayoral elections offered another sign of how important mayors have become in Italian political life since a 1993 law provided for their direct election.
Several politicians of national stature were fighting the contests that concluded on Monday, including Walter Veltroni, who is often tipped as a possible future centre-left premier and who easily won re-election as mayor of Rome.
According to early exit polls by the Piepoli institute for SkyTG24 television, Mr Veltroni had a lead of 58 to 40 per cent over Gianni Alemanno, a former agriculture minister under Mr Berlusconi and a leading light of the rightwing National Alliance party.
In Milan, Letizia Moratti, a businesswoman and Mr Berlusconi’s former education minister, was projected to win 49-51 per cent against 48-50 per cent for Bruno Ferrante, the centre-left candidate.
Milan, a centre-right fortress, is the political homeland of Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and the populist Northern League, and the city’s mayoral election was a big test for Mr Berlusconi’s ability to hold his alliance together.
In Turin, Rocco Buttiglione, the Berlusconi government’s culture minister, suffered a thumping defeat, with exit polls projecting that Sergio Chiamparino, the incumbent centre-left mayor, would win by 60 to 38 per cent.
It was a similar if less spectacular story in Naples, where Rosa Russo Iervolino, the centre-left mayor, was projected to win 49-52 per cent against 40-43 per cent for Franco Malvano, her centre-right opponent.
If candidates fail to win more than 50 per cent, run-off elections will be held on June 11-12.
posted by il_Cordigliere at 8:20 pm
1 Comments:
good start
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