Sardinia elections, 19 missing sections closed: 1,600 more votes for Todde

The counting of the 19 sections that had not completed in time the counting of the ballots of the regional elections on Sunday 25 February in Sardinia has been concluded. According to unofficial data, the gap between Alessandra Todde and Paolo Truzzu has narrowed to around 1,600 votes. In the centre-right, no one is giving an ounce of confidence for now: the coalition is waiting for the official results to assess what to do and any appeals to the Tar.

'The data of the 22 missing sections that we are receiving from our list representatives leave us calm,' Todde said when speaking to In mezz'ora on Rai3. Then we will wait for what the Court of Appeal of Cagliari will communicate'. The president-in pectore, referring to the controversy and rumours circulating about the centre-right's comeback, added: "I want to say calmly that to be able to go against the court's evidence, an appeal must be made and it must be motivated. A total recount is not really provided for by law, it can be done for individual sections and must be motivated. I am very serene and calm'.

As for the margin, which was initially close to 3,000 votes, it should fluctuate between 1,450 and 1,600 votes difference. "A far cry from the 200 votes I heard about a few days ago," he adds. To close the circle on the electoral data, there is still a lack of data on the polling sections, whose operations had not been completed last Monday. 22 out of 1844 and which, according to the president's staff, could not change the result.

Clarifying the technical legal aspect of this situation is the opinion of lawyers Giuseppe and Giulia Andreozzi of Cagliari. 'In recent days rumours have been circulating about a possible overturning of the election result following the recount of votes underway in the Courts and the Court of Appeal,' they write in a document. 'This is not what is happening. Within 24 hours, the courts will scrutinise the sections that had not managed to complete their operations in time (that's 22 sections), then check the contested ballots (that's a few dozen ballots in each constituency), and then proceed to check the minutes of the sections, in case of errors in reporting data from one report to another or in collating the figures. In contrast, void ballots are not checked. The Court of Appeal then proceeds to proclaim those elected'.

Then the clarification regarding the possible appeal and recount of the ballots. 'Those who then want to challenge the outcome of the election must necessarily turn to the administrative judge, the Tar, within 60 days of the proclamation, the margins of which are, however, very narrow'. And to clarify, the two lawyers explain that 'in Italy there is no generalised right to the recount of votes in an administrative election. Administrative jurisprudence is, in fact, absolutely constant in the sense that whoever has an interest in the appeal, even a simple voter, must lodge an appeal with the Administrative Court in which he/she will have the burden of indicating the nature of the complained of flaws, the number of ballot papers that he/she intends to contest and the sections to which the specific censures refer'.