Italian Local Elections 2011

[Insula Dei]

How come we have no thread? Milan, Turin, Napels, Bologna,... All elect mayors and city councils today.

http://www.repubblica.it/politica/2011/05/15/news/affluenza_elezioni-16267303/?ref=HRER3-1

[Insula Dei]

If my Italian isn't too rusty, I seem to understand that the municipalities up for election tonight are currently divided as follows:

Left: 1
Centre-Left: 71
Centre: 2
Centre-Right: 53
Civic List (?): 3
Lega Nord: 1

I'm out of touch with Italian politics, but the PD should be up and the PDL down, no?

[Insula Dei]

Depends on when these places were last up. If they were last up in 2006, the left should be down a bit.

Bologna seems to have last been up in 2009, while Milan last was up in 2006. But again, my Italian is poor (i.e. what I recognize from French/Latin).

EDIT: Yeah, terms seem to be variable.

[Insula Dei]

Rather amusingly a 157-156 Senate majority for the Right+Centre doesn't mean Italy can't have a lavish 346-283 leftwing majority in the Chamber, if the prediction behind that link is to be trusted.

I really don't know which house of Italian parliament I dislike more, as the Camera ensures Berlusconi an easy majority if he tops the poll, and the Senato virtually assures that a Leftwing government is always going to struggle.