Eike Schmidt loses ballot: former Uffizi director will not be mayor of Florence

No go for Eike Schmidt: the former director of the Uffizi will not be mayor of Florence. The art historian, candidate of the center-right, supported by Fratelli d’Italia, Forza Italia, Lega and Lista Civica Eike Schmidt Sindaco in the runoff to decide the new first citizen stopped at 39.44 percent of preferences, with 53,558 total votes. The new mayor is Sara Funaro, candidate of the center-left, supported by the Pd, Green Left Alliance, Action, +Europa and the lists Sara Funaro Sindaca, Centro and Anima Firenze (she was also supported by the 5 Star Movement at the runoff): she won with 60.56%, 82,254 votes.

Schmidt does even worse than in the first round: he does better in percentage terms, since two weeks ago he had stopped at 32.86% of the preferences collecting 59,465 votes (against Funaro’s 43.17% and 78,126 votes), but compared to the first round he lost almost six thousand votes on the road, while his rival collected over four thousand more. Schmidt will therefore have to settle for a seat on the city council.

“As of today,” Schmidt said, “I am the leader of the opposition in the City Council. I sincerely thank all those who have committed themselves to me. We will continue to work to advance our projects even from the opposition. We will work hard on the issues of security and true ecology. We are extremely concerned about the PD’s plans to eliminate green from the city. On these and other issues we will be strong and incisive. This is not an end point, but a starting point to build the road to change.”

Schmidt’s is a total defeat: the only area of Florence where he came closest to Funaro was District 1 (which corresponds to the historic center of the Tuscan capital), where he garnered 43.15 percent of the vote.

Eike Schmidt loses ballot: former Uffizi director will not be mayor of Florence

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