Left is the loser of the Ticino municipal elections
Published: Monday, Apr 15th 2024, 19:51
Updated At: Tuesday, Apr 16th 2024, 01:59
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The left is the big loser in the 2024 municipal elections in Ticino after the executive and legislative districts have been counted. The SP and Greens have lost a combined 13 seats in the executive districts. In the legislative bodies, the FDP and the center have suffered major losses, but the red-green party is also losing here.
According to data from RSI radio and television in Italian-speaking Switzerland, the center party (7 seats), Lega and SVP (6 seats) and the FDP (4 seats) won seats in the executive.
The situation is different in the legislature: Here, the FDP in particular lost seats, but the center also lost seats. The same applies to the SP, which was not spared losses on Monday after its poor performance in the executive on Sunday.
It was mainly the so-called citizens' lists ("Liste Civiche") that won seats in the parliaments of Ticino's towns and municipalities. The new party of former SP politician Amalia Mirante, "Avanti con Ticino & Lavoro", also won seats in the legislatures at the first attempt.
SP holds seats in the cities
The results of the local elections were below the party's expectations, explained SP co-president Laura Riget when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. She had hoped that the "clear line" and the commitment of recent months against the cuts in public services and the "unjust tax reform" would reward the party.
Despite the negative results, the SP achieved good results in the most important centers of the canton and held its seats in Bellinzona, Lugano, Mendrisio and Locarno, as Riget noted.
Marco Chiesa new city councillor of Lugano
In Lugano, former SVP President and Ticino Councillor of States Marco Chiesa made it into the executive on Sunday. With 10,484 votes, he achieved the second-best result behind the incumbent mayor Michele Foletti (11,311 votes) from the Lega.
Filippo Lombardi, a former member of the Ticino Council of States, was confirmed as a councillor in Lugano. With 5398 votes, he was in the lower midfield. The newly elected SP councillor Raoul Ghisletta received the fewest votes (4506). The trade unionist and cantonal councillor was able to defend the seat of Cristina Zanini Barzaghi, who resigned from the city council.
Chiesa's election came at the expense of his party colleague Tiziano Galeazzi, who had replaced the unexpectedly deceased mayor Marco Borradori (Lega) on the joint list in 2021.
Invalid elections in Arbedo-Castione
The municipal council elections in Arbedo-Castione were declared invalid on Sunday evening. According to a statement from the State Chancellery, a number of "systematic irregularities" were found in the ballot papers. These concern fifty ballot papers for the executive and some for the legislative.
Due to the irregularities, the counting process was interrupted on Sunday. The cantonal audit office, which oversees the counting, then determined that the ballot papers had been systematically manipulated and declared the election invalid.
The case was reported to the public prosecutor's office on Sunday evening. They ordered the ballot papers to be confiscated, according to a statement from the State Chancellery.
The votes for the legislative bodies of the municipalities and towns in Ticino were only counted on Monday. The reason for the municipal elections being split over two days is the so-called law on the exercise of political rights.
Among other things, this stipulates that the ballot boxes must be transported to the Ticino capital of Bellinzona and the votes counted there, as the government spokesperson explained to Keystone-SDA.
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