In Puglia there are 50 municipalities in which the election of the new mayors and councilors is held on Sunday. Among these are two provincial capitals: Taranto and Barletta. To distinguish this electoral round are ‘fluid’ coalitions with transversal alliances. This is the case of Bitonto, in the Bari area, where the former regional councilor of Forza Italia, Domenico Damascelli, candidate for the center-right, will also be able to count on the support of the ‘Con’ list which refers to the Apulian governor Michele Emiliano. Damascelli challenges Francesco Paolo Ricci, supported by almost the entire center-left (the M5S is missing). In Taranto, on the other hand, the center-left concentrated on the former mayor Rinaldo Melucci: to support him there will be the Democratic Party, the M5S, the Greens, the ‘Con’ movement, Taranto Popolare, Psi and five other civic lists. The center-right, to “snatch” the city from its opponents, has bet on the former secretary of the Democratic Party, Walter Musillo, one of the founders of the Patto per Taranto group, also supported by those who contributed to the fall, last November, of the mayor Melucci thanks the simultaneous resignations of 17 directors, including some from the majority. There are ten lists that support Musillo, including Forza Italia, Fratelli d’Italia, Prima Italia, Patto Popolare. The other two challengers are Massimo Battista, Ilva’s layoff worker in extraordinary administration and outgoing municipal councilor; and the journalist Luigi Abbate supported by three lists. Also in Barletta there are four candidates for mayors, but in the provincial capital Barletta-Andria-Trani the center-left failed to re-propose the Pd-M5S alliance and the case ended up on the national table with the near resignation of the Dem regional secretary, Marco Lacarra, then not accepted by the leader of the Democratic Party Enrico Letta. It all started with the decision of the local Democratic Party to focus on Santa Scommegna, but without having received the ok from the pentastellati and the Italian Left. A decision that the national leaders of the Democratic Party did not like. The end result is that the M5S will race alone with former councilor Maria Angela Carone. Among the aspirants to the position of mayor in Barletta there is also the former mayor Cosimo Cannito, disheartened by the Council in October 2021: he reapplies for the leadership of a center-right coalition, with eight lists in support of him, including Fratelli d ‘ Italy, Lega and Forza Italia. Then there is Scommegna, who was at the top of the former mayor’s staff office: she is supported by the Democratic Party and the Con lists, Cantiere Puglia for Emiliano, Barletta Popolare, Emiliano mayor of Puglia and the mayor’s list. For the M5S there is Maria Angela Carone; and finally Carmine Doronzo, outgoing municipal councilor of the Civic Coalition, supported by four lists, including Sinistra Italiana and Italia Viva, runs.
Source: Ansa
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