Many Slovenian mayors in Friuli Venezia Giulia re-elected
Trieste, 10 June - A number of municipalities in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia that are home to the Slovenian ethnic minority will continue to be run by Slovenian mayors after the local elections this past weekend.
It is already clear that Slovenians will be at the helm of local authorities in Sgonico, Monrupino, Savogna, San Floriano del Collio, San Dorligo della Valle, and Doberdo del Lago.
In the Trieste area of the region, Monica Hrovatin won 64.4% of the vote to secure a third term as mayor of Sgonico, the minority newspaper Primorski Dnevnik reported on Monday.
The Monrupino municipality will continue to be run by Tanja Kosmina, while locals in San Dorligo della Valle voted in a new mayor after Sandy Klun did not run for re-election.
The winner there, Aleksander Coretti, enjoys the support of the current centre-left coalition in the municipality, which includes the two most popular political parties among ethnic Slovenians in the region - the Democratic Party (PD) and the Slovenian Union (SSk).
In the Gorizia area, there were only Slovenian candidates running in the elections in Doberdo del Lago, Savogna and San Floriano del Collio.
In Doberdo del Lago, Peter Ferfoglia, an independent candidate who enjoys the support of the SSk, achieved a surprise victory over incumbent Mayor Fabio Vizintin.
Savogna Mayor Luca Pisk has been re-elected for another five-year term, while in San Floriano del Collio, long-serving Mayor Franka Padovan decided to run in the EU election, which was also held this weekend in Italy, instead of the local election, and will be succeeded by Marjan Drufovka, her deputy mayor.
Padovan ran in the election to the European Parliament as an SSk candidate on the slate of the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), an ethnic catch-all party.
The SVP and its political partner SSk have achieved their main goal in the EU vote - securing another term for their lead candidate Herbert Dorfmann, who has been serving as MEP since 2009.
What attests to the election success is the 3,481 votes for the SVP in the region, which in percentage terms is nearly 50% up from the 2019 EU elections, the SSk said.
Padovan was not elected to the EU parliament, but the only Slovenian candidate in the EU vote in Italy received 1,958 preferential votes, which put her in second place behind Dorfmann.
When it comes to the local elections, there are many municipalities in the Udine area of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region where Slovenian minority protection was put into law more than 20 years ago.
Only two clear winners have emerged so far in the vote count - Anna Miceli in Resia and Boris Preschern in Malborghetto-Valbruna, both incumbent mayors with no challengers in the race.
The local elections in the region took place in 114 municipalities with up to 15,000 citizens. The vote count started this afternoon.