Italians vote for mayors as parties gear up for polls

ROME: Italians are electing municipal mayors yesterday in a test of parties' support ahead of a parliamentary election to be held by next spring at the latest.

Some 9 million voters will elect mayors in more than 1,000 towns and cities, with runoffs to be held on June 25 where no candidate gets more than 50 per cent in the fi rst round.

The political climate ahead of the vote became even more hostile this week after a deal on electoral reform among the main parties broke down in parliament amid bitter recriminations.

The collapse of that accord seems to have reduced the chances of a snap election in the autumn, but the coalition backing Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni is fragile and analysts say an early vote still cannot be ruled out.

Although Sunday's vote will be one of the last before the general election, local factors mean it may not provide a clear reflection of the parties’ national standings.

Moreover, in many of the contests, the parties have taken a back seat and chosen to camouflage themselves in broad ‘civic list’ coalitions rather than present their own individual candidates.

The largest city at stake is Palermo, where incumbent mayor Leoluca Orlando, a veteran antimafia campaigner backed by Italy's ruling Democratic Party ( PD) and other centre-left groups, is expected to see off his rivals from the centre-right and the antiestablishment 5- Star Movement.

A closer contest is expected in the northern port city of Genoa, where the centre-right hopes to win control from the incumbent centre-left.

The city is home to 5- Star’s founder, comedian Beppe Grillo, but the movement's prospects there have dwindled due to a local internal split.

The centre-right, dominated by the Northern League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, is favourite in Verona in the northeast, while the centreleft is expected to keep control of L'Aquila, capital of the central Abruzzo region.

5-Star is running neck-and-neck with the PD nationally, according to opinion polls, but it often struggles in local elections due to its loose organisation and lack of high-profi le candidates, and it is expected to score few successes yesterday. — AFP