Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition has defied opinion polls to retain Venice and seize the centre-left stronghold of Reggio Calabria in local elections, easing pressure on the Italian Government two months after its defeat in a referendum on judicial reform.
Voters in more than 600 municipalities cast ballots on May 24-25 in the first nationwide electoral test since the March plebiscite, which had been widely portrayed as the end of Meloni’s run of political wins since she took office in 2022.
In Venice, centre-right candidate Simone Venturini took around 51 per cent of the vote in the first round, ahead of centre-left rival Andrea Martella on 39 per cent, according to data from the Italian Interior Ministry. Polling company Youtrend called the result on Monday evening, saying the margin was decisive.
The 38-year-old, born in the mainland district of Marghera in 1987, succeeds Luigi Brugnaro, who had governed the lagoon city for a decade and could not stand again under term limits. Venturini had served since 2015 as a councillor for economic development, infrastructure, labour and tourism. Pre-election surveys had pointed to a centre-left lead in Venice, where controversy flared in recent weeks over Russia’s presence at the Biennale Art Festival.
In Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy’s Calabria region, Forza Italia’s Francesco Cannizzaro looked set to cruise home with around 65 per cent of the vote, compared to 24 per cent for the centre-left, flipping a long-standing opposition city to Meloni’s bloc.
The picture was not uniform. In Salerno, on Italy’s southwestern Tyrrhenian coast, veteran politician Vincenzo De Luca, a fierce Meloni critic, took 56.73 per cent of the vote, though he ran without using the badge of his Democratic Party (PD). Eight of the 18 provincial capitals at stake will go to a run-off on June 7-8 after no candidate cleared 50 per cent in the first round.
National turnout was 60 per cent, almost five percentage points down on last time, continuing a long-running decline in participation.
Reacting to the results on X, Meloni congratulated the newly elected mayors and added with characteristic irony: “And again today, the much-heralded collapse of the centre-right is postponed until tomorrow.” Senior Brothers of Italy (FdI) figure Giovanni Donzelli said the opposition had arrived in Venice convinced it could portray the centre-right as being in crisis, only for voters to deliver a different verdict.
The vote is seen as a setback for PD leader Elly Schlein and Five Star Movement (M5S) head Giuseppe Conte, who have been trying to build a united progressive front before the next Italian general election, due by 2027.
Veneto regional president Luca Zaia, of the Lega party, welcomed the result, calling Venturini “the right person to lead Venice” and praising what he described as a campaign based on content and listening.
