Elections, from the Matera and Taranto ballots to the Nuoro municipal elections: where to vote on 8-9 June

After the victory in the first round of the centre-left Genoa and Ravenna, Taranto and Matera are the two provincial capitals still to be 'assigned' in the administrative round in the ballots of 8 June (from 7am to 11pm) and 9 June (from 7am to 3pm). But there is also voting in Nuoro (first round). But there are also other municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants on the ballot on Sunday and Monday. In Lombardy, ballot boxes are open for the second round in Saronno and Cernusco sul Naviglio. Another city on the ballot is Lamezia Terme in Calabria.

For some 20 years the centre-left has led the city government in Taranto and is aiming for continuity. The united centre-right hopes for overtaking. Piero Bitetti, an expression of the centre-left, received 37.39% of the vote in the first round, and for the runoff he also had the external support of the M5S. Francesco Tacente, at the head of a coalition of civic lists that reached 26.14%, meanwhile, received the official support of the entire centre-right. Thus the agreement with Fratelli d'Italia, Forza Italia and Noi Moderati, who had supported Luca Lazzaro's candidature for mayor in the first round, third after the first phase with around 19.40% of the vote, was finalised. Tacente could already count on the support of the Udc and the League, which presented itself without a symbol but with the wording Prima Taranto, adhering to the civic project. On the opposite front, the 5 Star Movement, on the strength of the 11% won by mayoral candidate Annagrazia Angolano in the first round, confirmed its line of autonomy: no affiliations, no entry into the majority. But while remaining in opposition, the Pentastellati leaders have launched an explicit appeal to vote for Bitetti, to 'avoid a centre-right victory'.

In Matera, the 8-9 June ballot to elect the new mayor could turn out to be a challenge to the last vote: on one side the regional councillor of the Democratic Party, but without the Dem symbol, Roberto Cifarelli (centre-left), on the other the former director of the Basilicata Tourist Board Antonio Nicoletti (centre-right). In the first round, Cifarelli obtained 43.5%, Nicoletti 37%, with the turnout at 65.2% of the approximately 50 thousand eligible voters. A figure that, as always happens in ballots, and despite the concomitance of the referendum, is inevitably destined to fall. After Cifarelli's official alliance with Luca Prisco's Democrazia Materana (mayoral candidate who achieved 4.3% in the first round), the centre-left bridge-builders tried to unite the entire progressive front, but their attempts ran up against the 'no' votes of the Five Star Movement (with 8.3% for outgoing mayor Domenico Bennardi) and Progetto Comune (with 6.8% for Vincenzo Santochirico). It was precisely Progetto Comune that accused Cifarelli of not having 'accepted the invitation' to exclude 'right-wing forces' from his coalition. The reference is to some former Forza Italia and Azione members, who support the centre-right Bardi council in the Basilicata region: they took part in the Open primaries won by Cifarelli in April and were not recognised by the parties, including the PD, which did not present its own list. However, through its regional secretary, Giovanni Lettieri, the PD has openly sided in favour of its regional councillor in the run-off.

On Sunday 8 and Monday 9 June, votes will also be cast in Nuoro for the first round of the municipal elections. In the Sardinian Regional President Alessandra Todde's hometown, the most eagerly awaited challenge is between the M5s deputy Emiliano Fenu, for the centre-left broad field, with seven lists and 145 candidates, and the former Pd and Iv senator, Giuseppe Luigi Cucca, now a member of Azione, with Alleanza per Nuoro: six civic lists supported by the centre-right (but without party symbols) and 123 aspiring councillors. There are two outsiders: Lisetta Bidoni (Lista Progetto per Nuoro with 24 candidates) and Domenico Mele (Democrazia sovrana popolare with 16 candidates). The eventual ballot is scheduled for Sunday 22 and Monday 23 June. For the Sardinian M5s, one year after its victory at the regional elections, this is a first test: Nuoro, as mentioned, is the city of Alessandra Todde - who is going through a difficult period with the forfeiture case and the opposition's continuous calls for her to resign - and the wide field is counting on a Pentastellated exponent who, in case of success, would leave the Chamber of Deputies. In addition to Nuoro, in Sardinia, votes are also being held in Oniferi, Monastir, Cardedu, Goni, Soleminis and Luras, all of which have less than 15,000 inhabitants and where there is therefore no runoff.