Minus two. Everything is ready for the electoral marathon which will involve 51.7 million Italians. On Saturday and Sunday we vote for the European elections, for the administrative elections – there are over 3,700 municipalities called to elect a new mayor – and in the case of Piedmont also for the regional elections. Polling stations will be open from 3pm to 11pm on June 8th and from 7am to 11pm the following day.
The European elections
Italy will elect 76 members of the European Parliament out of a total of 720. There are five electoral constituencies that elect a number of deputies in proportion to the inhabitants: North-Western (Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy), North-Eastern (Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto ), Central (Lazio, Marche, Tuscany and Umbria), Southern (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Puglia), Islands (Sicily and Sardinia). Under European electoral law, all countries must use a proportional system. In Italy there is preferential voting, with the possibility of indicating, within the same list, from one to three preferences, voting, in the case of two or three, for candidates of different sexes. Split voting is not permitted. The threshold is 4%.
Abstention and out-of-office effect
The turnout in the European elections has been continuously decreasing since 2004, when 71.7% of those entitled to vote; it then went to 65% in 2009, to 57.2% in 2014, up to the minimum of 54.5% in 2019. Curiosity: it is the third time that for the European elections the polls will be open for two days: the previous ones date back to 2004 (12 and 13 June) and 2009 (6 and 7 June). There are 51.7 million Italians called to vote (5.1 million live abroad). New this year: exclusively for the European Parliament election, non-resident students will be able to vote from where they are, without returning to their municipality of residence. The application to do so had to be submitted by May 5th. 23,734 requests were registered (out of a total of over 590,000 interested parties). As usual, preferential rates have been provided for those who go to the municipality of residence to vote: discounts on planes, trains and ferries, exemption from tolls on the motorway network for those traveling by car.
Municipal elections
Voting takes place in 3,715 municipalities, 29 of which are capitals (Ascoli Piceno, Avellino, Bari, Bergamo, Biella, Cagliari, Cesena, Caltanissetta, Campobasso, Cremona, Ferrara, Florence, Forli’, Lecce, Livorno, Modena, Pavia, Perugia, Pesaro , Pescara, Potenza, Prato, Reggio Emilia, Rovigo, Sassari, Urbino, Verbania, Vercelli and Vibo Valentia). There are 228 centers with more than 15,000 inhabitants and 3,487 with 15,000 or less. For larger municipalities, if no candidate does not reach an absolute majority of votes (50% plus 1), it will be necessary to proceed to a second round. The possible runoff will take place on Sunday 23 and Monday 24 June. Another novelty: the decree for Election Day has changed the limits for the mandates of the first citizens of small municipalities: between 5 thousand and 15 thousand inhabitants it will be possible to reach the third mandate, whereas below 5 thousand the limit of mandates is eliminated. Over 17 million Italians are called to vote for the election of mayors.
Preferences
The voter can express one or two preference votes for candidates for the office of municipal councilor included in the voted list. In the case of expressing two preferences, one must concern a male candidate and the other a female candidate, under penalty of nullity of the second preference expressed. Attention: For municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, only one preference can be expressed for a candidate for the municipal council by writing the surname in the appropriate line next to the list symbol.
The regional elections
Piedmontese voters (3.6 million) will renew the Regional Council and elect the President of the Region. The 50 councilors will be elected with a mixed system: proportional for 40 seats, majority for 10. The threshold is 3% for groups of lists not united in a coalition or whose coalition has obtained an electoral figure of less than 5%. of valid votes.
Split vote
At the polls it is possible to choose a presidential candidate but indicate a list and candidates from another party for the composition of the assembly. How to do it? It is necessary to draw an X on the name and surname of a presidential candidate and an X on the symbol of a list that is not part of his coalition. Alternatively, you can draw an X on the symbol of a presidential candidate and an X on the symbol of a list that is not part of his coalition. In both cases the vote will go to the presidential candidate and the list at the same time. To express your preference vote for councilor candidates, you can write the names of up to a maximum of two candidates next to the symbol of the chosen list. Attention: if there are two preferences, gender equality must be respected: candidates must be a man and a woman. If this rule is not respected, the second preference expressed will be cancelled.
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