On Sunday 28 and Monday 29 May the polls are back for the ballot in 41 Municipalities that failed to elect the mayor in the session of 14 and 15 May, including 7 provincial capitals. Voting is also done in the first round in 128 Sicilian and 39 Sardinian municipalities. Polling stations open on Sunday from 7 to 23 and Monday from 7 to 15. From documents to thresholds, up to split voting: here’s everything you need to know about how to vote
On Sunday 28 and Monday 29 May there will be a new electoral round of administrative elections in various cities of Italy (LO SPECIALE). In these two days the ballot is held in 41 Italian Municipalities in which the mayor was not elected in the first round of 14 and 15 May. And at the same time we vote for the first round of municipal elections in 128 Sicilian Municipalities, including Trapani, Syracuse, Ragusa and Catania, and in 39 Sardinian Municipalities. For the centers of the two regions with special statutes, any ballots will be held on Sunday 11 and Monday 12 June. Here’s how to vote and what you need to know.
The ballots of 28 and 29 May
The ballot involves 41 Municipalities on Sunday (ballot boxes open from 7 to 23) and Monday (7 to 15). The polls will begin immediately after the polls close. A total of 1,340,688 voters are involved. One of the two candidates will be voted in 7 provincial capitals: Vicenza, Massa, Pisa, Siena, Terni, Ancona, Brindisi. In Vicenza the challenge is between Giacomo Possamai and Francesco Rucco. Francesco Persiani and Enzo Ricci face off in Massa. Pisa is disputed between Michele Conti and Paolo Martinelli. In Siena the ballot will be between Nicoletta Fabio and Anna Ferretti. In Terni it is head to head between Orlando Masselli and Stefano Bandecchi. Ida Simonella and Daniele Silvetti challenge each other in Ancona. Finally, in Brindisi, the ballot will be between Roberto Fusco and Giuseppe Marchionna.
How to vote in ballots
In the ballot, the candidate with the most votes is elected mayor. In the event of a tie, the candidate linked to the list or group of lists for the election of the municipal council that has achieved the highest total electoral figure wins. With the same electoral figure, the eldest of the two challengers is proclaimed first citizen. As the website of the Ministry of the Interior explains, “the ballot form includes the name and surname of the candidates for the office of mayor, written within the appropriate rectangle, under which the symbols of the linked lists are reproduced. The vote is expressed by tracing a sign on the rectangle within which the name of the chosen candidate is written”. To vote, you must go to your polling station with your electoral card and ID. The polling station to which one must go is indicated on the electoral card where the number and seat of the section to which one is assigned, the constituency and the district to which they belong are located. The accepted identity documents are, in addition to the identity card, all those legible and with a photograph issued by the Public Administration such as a driving licence, pension record book, passport, identification card issued by a professional order and identification card issued by the Union National Officers on leave from Italy, if validated by a military Command. The documents are valid for voting even if expired as long as they allow the identification of the voter.
The first round of the Municipal elections in Sicily
On 28 and 29 May, 128 Sicilian Municipalities vote to elect their own mayors and to renew the municipal and district councils. Polling stations will be open on Sunday (from 7 to 23) and Monday (from 7 to 15). The population involved is 1,387,169 inhabitants, of which 301,104 also for the elections of the six district councils and their respective presidents in Catania. There are four provincial capitals called to the polls: Catania, Ragusa, Trapani and Syracuse. Another 11 large centers are voting: Licata, Aci Sant’Antonio, Acireale, Belpasso, Biancavilla, Gravina di Catania, Mascalucia, Piazza Armerina, Comiso, Modica, Carlentini.
How to vote in municipal elections in Sicily
In Sicily, the threshold to be exceeded in order to be elected in the first round is 40% of the votes cast. In 113 centers (up to 15,000 inhabitants) the majority system will vote, in fifteen municipalities (where the ballot will be held on 11 and 12 June) with the proportional system. There are 1,646 municipal councilors to be elected and 1,579 electoral sections to be set up. The voter – both for the municipal and district councils – can express one or two preferences in the same list, but of different kinds. The vote cast for a list extends to the candidate for mayor linked to it and not vice versa: the so-called “carry-over effect”. There is also the possibility of “separate voting”, which makes the elector free to vote separately for a candidate for mayor and for a list not connected to this one. The counting will begin on Monday afternoon, immediately after the closing of the voting operations.
The first round of municipal elections in Sardinia
The electoral round in Sardinia is more contained than in Sicily, where there are 39 Municipalities that will vote. Only two of these have more than 15,000 inhabitants. These are Assemini (Cagliari) and Iglesias (South Sardinia). In both cases three candidates challenge each other. 139,377 voters will be called to the polls: Tortolì is among the centers called to vote. The identity documents to be presented at the time of voting are those included in one of the following three categories: identity card or other identification document with a photograph, issued by a public administration, even if expired, provided that it is in any other respect adjust to secure voter identification; identification card issued by the National Union of retired officers in Italy, provided it has a photograph and is validated by a military command; identification card issued by a professional order, provided it has a photograph.
How to vote in municipal elections in Sardinia
As the institutional sites explain, the methods of expressing votes change according to the population of the municipalities. In municipalities with up to 15,000 inhabitants, a mark can be placed on the mayoral candidate or on the list connected to the mayoral candidate or even both on the mayoral candidate and on the list connected to the same mayoral candidate: in any case, the vote is attributed both to the list of councilor than to the related mayoral candidate. The candidate with the most votes is elected mayor. On the other hand, in municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants it is possible to: draw a single sign on the candidate for mayor: in this case the vote is attributed only to the candidate for mayor; or a sign can be drawn only on one of the lists connected to the mayoral candidate or also both on the mayoral candidate and on one of the lists connected to the same mayoral candidate: in both cases the vote is attributed both to the mayoral candidate and to the list of councilor candidates . Or again, a separate vote can be cast by marking the mayoral candidate and another mark on an unrelated list: in this case, the vote is attributed to both the mayoral candidate and the unrelated list. The candidate who obtains an absolute majority of valid votes (at least 50% plus one) is elected mayor in the first round; if no candidate reaches this threshold, voting will resume on Sunday 11 and Monday 12 June for the run-off between the two most voted candidates. Preferences are expressed by writing in the spaces provided the surname (or first and last name in case of homonymy) of the municipal councilor candidates on the voted list. In municipalities with a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants, only one preference can be expressed for a candidate for municipal councilor. In municipalities with a population of no less than 5,000 inhabitants, it is possible to express two preferences for candidates for municipal councilor by writing their surname in the appropriate dotted lines below the list mark. If two preferences are expressed, these must concern candidates of different genders, otherwise the second preference will be cancelled. Preferences must be expressed exclusively for candidates included in the voted list.
Source-tg24.sky.it