PDL and League Routed as Grillo Movement Advances in Administrative Elections

Comedian’s movement goes to second round poll in Parma. Democratic Party holds its ground and Left gains in municipal elections.

MILAN – The Centre-right is out of contention in all the major cities. Northern League supporters are celebrating Flavio Tosi’s first-round win in Verona but elsewhere the League is forced to acknowledge a rout without precedent. Beppe Grillo’s movement pulled off a major coup, gaining its first mayor albeit in a small town, going through to the second round in Parma and coming close in Genoa. The Centre-left can bask in victory but also has to face up to the irresistible force of Leoluca Orlando’s success in Palermo, the largest of the cities that were voting, and of its impact on future coalitions. Spring’s round of voting, the first since Mario Monti’s government of technocrats took office, paints a completely new picture of the political scene, setting new problems for political parties and demanding new decisions.

PALERMO – Despite secretary Pier Luigi Bersani’s claim that the Democratic Party (PD) has emerged victorious (“There’s no justification for saying that everyone has come off worse. Take a look at the numbers”), he will inevitably have to deal with events in Palermo. With more than 47.6% of the vote, Leoluca Orlando has laid down a serious marker in his effort to reclaim the mayoral sash that was his in the 1980s and 1990s. In a fortnight’s time, he will cross swords with the Centre-left’s official candidate Fabrizio Ferrandelli, who collected 17.4%. But Orlando’s challenge to the PD is aimed principally at the party leadership of his former allies: “Half of the PD electorate voted for me. Bersani ought to think about that”.

TOSI BACK – Verona’s outgoing mayor Flavio Tosi was voted back in the first round, validating the stance of the Northern League’s most pragmatic mayor who has at times clashed with party leader Umberto Bossi. One instance was his decision to present his own, not explicitly Northern League-oriented, civic list. In the end, Mr Tosi topped the poll, probably picking up a fair slice of the former People of Freedom’s (PDL) vote. PDL candidate Luigi Castelletti came in well behind the Centre-left’s Michele Bertucco, who collected just under 23%, and he was also beaten by the Grillo movement’s Gianni Benciolini as both hovered around 8-9%. It’s a far cry from the numbers the Centre-right was used to mustering in Verona.

LEAGUE ROUT – This morning, Flavio Tosi is the sole consolation for a Northern League bloodied in many of its stamping grounds. The League surrendered various Brianza strongholds including Monza, Lombardy’s third-largest city, where outgoing mayor Marco Mariani failed to make the second round. Elsewhere the League suffered defeats in towns and provinces that have traditionally supported it, such as Varese, Como and Bergamo. There were Northern League losses even in Roberto Calderoli’s Mozzo and Umberto Bossi’s home town of Cassano Magnago. The League’s leader in Milan, Matteo Salvini, said live on Corriere TV: “The voters have given our ears a tweaking. It’s a signal. And that’s where we need to start from. Recently, the PDL has become the party of the construction industry. It’s no longer of any interest to us”. Roberto Maroni, the man who is now most emblematic of the party, said “We’ll make a new start from Verona”. Mr Tosi himself commented: “We need to turn things round and go back to being the Northern League of yore”.

GRILLO’S SUCCESS – Parma produced a significant result as the Centre-left’s candidate Vincenzo Bernazzoli emerged from the poll well ahead on 39.3% but behind him was Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement with Federico Pizzarotti on 19.47%. It was a similar story at Genoa, where Marco Doria, who won 48.39%, can watch a neck-and-neck race between the Third Pole candidate Enrico Musso (14.9%) and the Grillo movement’s Paolo Putti (13.9%) with returns from fewer than twenty polling stations still to come in. Early forecasts put Mr Putti in front but whatever the outcome, the coalition vote puts the Grillo movement in second place, confirming its excellent showing. Centre-right candidate Pierluigi Vinai straggled in fourth. The good result obtained by the Grillo movement in Verona also deserves mention while at Sarego in the neighbouring Veneto province of Vicenza, Roberto Castiglion became the Five Star Movement’s very first mayor. He was rewarded with a congratulatory tweet from Beppe Grillo.

English translation by Giles Watson

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