Anci, agreement on Manfredi as president. Lo Russo, Forte and Palazzi are the deputies

Agreement reached for the ANCI summit. The new president of the Italian municipalities will be mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi. Among his deputies there will be the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo. The positions will be formalized on Wednesday morning during the meeting scheduled in the Piedmontese capital, but the agreement has already been reached. The other two vice presidents, also awaiting formalization, should be Luisa Fortemayor of Campobasso, elected as independent in the centre-left, e Mattia Palazzimayor of Mantua. As coordinator of metropolitan mayors the choice should fall on Matteo Leporemayor of Bologna of the Democratic Party. While the regional Anci will be coordinated by the dem Susanna Cennimayor of Poggibonsi.

In view of the assembly, Manfredi prepared a video message in which he states: “We are living in a complex period in which economic problems, the reduction of purchasing power, social contrasts and work and housing difficulties make living very difficult. Today we must relaunch the challenge starting from the municipalities, large cities and small municipalities from the internal areas and coastal areas to ensure that there is a new phase of growth and change that everyone is asking of us”.

The negotiations between the Democrats, which have been ongoing for months and increasingly frenetic as the Wednesday deadline approaches, have been followed directly in recent days by the coordinator of the party’s local authorities, Davide Baruffiand by the organization manager, Igor Taruffi: the final agreement was reached in a video call with dem secretary Elly Schlein. The objective, achieved at this point, was to avoid a confrontation at the time of the meeting which will open in two days. An appointment which, however, usually leads to already closed agreements.

The risk avoided is that the Democratic Party would split in an internal debate, as happened in 2011 in Brindisi between Graziano Delriowho prevailed by three votes, and Michele Emiliano. There is no doubt, however, that the choice would have fallen to the centre-left: it has the majority of the over 700 delegates identified by the regional Anci.