Brescia Municipal Elections in Roncadelle, Lonato, and Magasa, April 16

Referring to the decree of the Minister of the Interior dated January 27, Enzo Bianco, the Prefect of Brescia, Alberto De Muro, has called for Sunday, April 16, the election polls for the renewal of the Municipal Councils and for the direct election of mayors of the municipalities of Roncadelle, Lonato, and Magasa: three, therefore, out of a total of 206 Brescia municipalities.

The citizens of the three towns are called to the polls for entirely different reasons. Only for Roncadelle, indeed, is it a natural expiration of the Municipal Council and mayor, who were elected on June 9, 1996. “Natural” to say, because the date is still out of sync with most of the other municipalities: in fact, voters in Roncadelle, on two occasions (1973 and 1991), had been called to vote early due to the premature dissolution of the Municipal Council.

The councillors to be elected in Roncadelle are 16, as the population exceeds 5,000 residents. The voters of Lonato are called to vote early because last December 1, the President of the Republic Ciampi, by decree, dissolved the Municipal Council due to the resignation submitted simultaneously by 11 councillors, following the well-known events related to the waste incinerator.

This led to the appointment of a Special Commissioner for the provisional management of the municipality until the appointment of the ordinary bodies. In Lonato, a municipality with over 10,000 inhabitants, 20 councillors will be elected.

The voters of the small town of Magasa, in Valsabbia, are also interested in this extraordinary administrative election, as the election held on June 13, 1999, was declared null because the proclamation of the elected officials (mayor and councillors) could not be carried out. This was because only one list of candidates was presented, and the quorum of voters – half plus one of eligible voters – was not reached.

For this reason, a prefectural commissioner, Dr. Zaira Romano, was appointed to manage the municipality temporarily. In Magasa, 12 councillors will be elected.

For all three municipalities, only if the first two candidates for mayor receive the same number of votes (a very remote probability, to be honest), will a runoff election be held on Sunday, April 30. In all three towns, voters will be informed of the election call with a notice published on Thursday, March 2.