The Italian Social Democrats continued their triumphal march in local elections in the mayor runoff elections. The social democratic candidate and ex-minister of economics won in the capital Rome Roberto Gualtieri with around 59 percent clearly against his opponent from the center-right camp, Enrico Michetti. Turin will also have a red mayor in the future, Stefano Lo Russo.
Milan and Naples had already gone to center-left candidates in the first round. Together with Palermo, where the mayor was not elected, the five most populous cities in Italy will in future be ruled by mayors from the center-left camp.
The center-right block, which includes the Lega and the legal force “Fratelli dItalia” (Brothers of Italy) as well as Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, suffered a bitter defeat. It only asserted itself in small towns.
The only consolation for the center-right is Trieste. In the former Habsburg port city, in which thousands of people have been demonstrating against the 3-G obligation at work for days, the center-right Mayor Roberto Dipiazza, who is starting his fourth mandate as city boss, won.
