Data published by the Ministry of the Interior indicate that the turnout was lower than the 54.71 percent of the first round, while exit polls by the Opinio Italia consortium for Italian Radio and Television, give a wide advantage to the center-left candidates for the two main mayoralties at stake.

In that sense, the projection gives the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Roberto Gualtieri, 59.1 percent against 40 percent of his opponent, Enrico Michetti, in Rome.

For his part, Stefano Lo Russo is leading in Turin with 59.2 percent against 40.8 percent for Paolo Damilano, while in Trieste the race is tight between the candidates of both parties.

The two-day consultation included the cities of more than 15,000 inhabitants where none of the aspirants obtained half plus one of the votes in the first round held two weeks ago in 15 regions of ordinary statute and the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

These include the provincial capitals of Varese, Savona, Latina, Benevento, Caserta, Isernia and Cosenza, as well as Rome, Turin and Trieste, capitals of the Lazio, Piedmont and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions, respectively.

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