Italy: Municipal elections in 978 cities and five referendums

From 7 a.m. local time until 11 p.m., in Italy citizens are required to vote to renew 978 city councils.

At the same time, more than 50 million citizens have the right to answer the questions of five referendums.

Regarding the municipal elections, 142 municipalities in which the ballot boxes were set up, have more than 15 thousand inhabitants. In these larger municipalities, the new mayor will be elected from the first round, only if he currently secures at least 50% plus one vote. Otherwise, there will be a second round on June 26.

The largest cities in which these local elections are held are Genoa, Catanzaro in Calabria, L’Aquila in central Italy and Palermo in Sicily.

It makes sense, as the newspaper La Repubblica points out, that only a quarter of the mayoral candidates in the largest cities are women.

At the same time, the five referendums that the Italians are called to answer today are all about justice. In order for their result to be considered valid, at least 50% plus one of the eligible voters must go to the polls.

More specifically, with the questions posed by these referendums, Italians will have to decide whether the law depriving citizens of the right to vote with a final conviction for serious crimes (from mafia to terrorism) should be repealed. restrict the use of pre-trial detention and prevent judges from being able to change responsibilities and switch to the role of prosecutor.

The last two referendums suggest that judges be evaluated, not only by their colleagues, but also by professors and lawyers, as well as to be able to run for the Supreme Judicial Council (the body that governs the industry, with great autonomy) without being required at least 25 signatures of their colleagues.

The press reports that it is difficult for the majority of citizens to go to the polls given the great sunshine, which pushes many Italians to “escape” from the cities to the sea and the countryside.