Italy – Comment: Local elections – all eyes on Rome

On Sunday and Monday local elections were held in Italy. It was the first big occasion to measure the political temperature since the general elections in February. In my view the two most significant developments in Rome’s voting (and maybe a sign for things to come also on the national level) were:

1. The poor showing of the Five Star Movement (M5S) candidate Marcello De Vito who did not make it into the second round (in fact none of his party fellows did it in any of the cities were voting took place) and,
2. The worryingly low turn-out. Only 1 in 2 eligible voters bothered to participate.