Bolzano changes: Claudio Corrarati mayor, center-right in power after 20 years

The center-right wins a historic victory in Bolzano with Mayor Claudio Corrarati. For the first time since the introduction of direct mayoral elections in 1995, the alliance between Fratelli d'Italia, Lega, and Forza Italia wins the municipal vote, marking a significant turning point in the local political landscape.

Claudio Corrarati new mayor of Bolzano

In Bolzano, the scrutineers have completed the counting of the ballots for the runoff election for mayor, after citizens went to the polls to choose the new mayor.

The final challenge was between Claudio Corrarati, the center-right candidate who had collected 36.3% of the preferences in the first round, and Juri Andriollo, a representative of the center-left with 27.3%. The official results, with all 80 sections counted, confirm a narrow victory for Corrarati, who obtained 51.03% of the votes. Andriollo, former municipal councilor for Social Policies and close to the Democratic Party, stopped at 48.97%. In numerical terms, Corrarati received 17,486 votes against the 16,778 of his rival. It is worth noting a significant drop in turnout, which fell to 42.8% compared to the 52.2% recorded two weeks ago.

Claudio Corrarati, an entrepreneur who has approached politics, is 57 years old and was president of Cna Trentino Alto Adige, the confederation of artisans. The forces of the center-right have united around him, but he was also appreciated by a part of the Svp. Marco Galateo, vice president of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and a leading figure of Fratelli d'Italia in Alto Adige, defined his election as "the election of the century for Bolzano".

"We have a job ahead of us that we will put into action starting in the next few days. It is certainly an important phase that we will have to do with great attention and quality, as citizens will ask and ask us, because I believe that politics and also the number of people who went to vote today shows that it has distanced itself too much from citizens and for this reason we must bring citizens closer to politics", underlined Corrarati.

The center-right obtains a historic triumph in Bolzano, a city that for over twenty years had seen its almost uninterrupted predominance. For the first time, since the entry into force of the direct election of the mayor in 1995, the coalition formed by Fratelli d'Italia, Lega and Forza Italia manages to prevail in the municipal elections, marking an important change in the local political context.

Despite the success, to ensure a stable majority in the Council it will be necessary to find an agreement with the Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP), the main party of the German minority, with which the center-right already shares the management of the Province. The victory, obtained by a very narrow margin, reflects an increasingly heated and competitive political landscape.