Center-Left Parties Win Elections in Major Italian Cities

In the Italian sub-national elections held on Sunday and Monday, progressive candidates won the mayoralties of Rome, Turin, Milan, Naples and Bologna.

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Democratic Party (PD) Roberto Gualtieri became the mayor of the Italian capital after winning 60.1 percent of the vote and defeating right-wing candidate Enrico Michetti. Gualtieri asked all political forces to join together to solve the Roman infrastructure problems.

"I won't disappoint you. Now we begin a task of extraordinary intensity to relaunch Rome," Gualtieri said and promised to turn this Italian city into "a champion of the ecological transition," as reported by Reuters.

Through a phone call, Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva warmly congratulated Gualtieri, who visited him in Curitiba prison in 2018 when the Workers ’Party leader was facing accusations from the Wash operation prosecutors.

Besides obtaining the Turin mayoralty with the triumph of PD candidate Stefano Lo Russo, the Italian left won victories in provincial capitals such as Caserta, Cosenza, Isernia, Latina, Savona, and Varese.

The right-wing parties only achieved victory in the city of Trieste, where Mayor Roberto Dipiazza won reelection with 51.3 percent of the vote.

The Italian subnational elections renewed the mayoralties of 65 cities and registered an abstentionism of 44 percent. Its first round was held on October 3 and 4. This democratic process was particularly unfavorable for the far-right 5-Star Movement, whose candidates were defeated in the first round.