The electoral challenge in Potenza, candidates hunting in the area less than two weeks before the polls open, Telesca teases Fanelli. Smaldone avoids the brawl
POTENZA – Less than two weeks until the polls open. And the temperature of the electoral campaign in the capital continues to rise.
There are excited hours with the candidates competing in Potenza for the tricolor band, and the 32 seats to be assigned within the new municipal council.
What holds sway are the skirmishes between the two candidates in favor of the latest polls released before the publication ban. That is to say the Northern League member Francesco Fanelli, leading a centre-right coalition extended to Renzians and Calendians on the model of the one successfully tested in the regional elections, and Vincenzo Telesca, supported by the majority of the Democratic Party, various centrists, and the former lay Catholics of Basilicata common home.
The inspiration for Telesca’s latest attack on the outgoing regional health councilor on Friday evening was the latter’s absence at the meeting with the mayoral candidates organized by the associations of the historic city centre. An absence which for Telesca would demonstrate “the disinterest of the Guarente-Fanelli duo for the beating heart of our city”.
«The historic center deserves to be reborn and return to being the fulcrum of our commerce and our social life». The mayoral candidate added. «In the last five years, the Northern League has abandoned the historic centre, leaving it in a state of decay and abandonment. Fanelli’s absence from the meeting with the citizens is just further proof of their indifference towards the true needs of our community and that his intention is to continue in the disastrous footsteps of Guarente: to make the city fail, as he did with the Healthcare in the Region”.
The reply from the outgoing regional health councilor was indirect, as he shared photos of meetings in the districts on his Facebook wall. There where 5 years ago the outgoing mayor, Mario Guarente, built on his victory.
Yesterday, however, Fanelli took charge of one of the successes of the outgoing municipal administration, which is the title of city of young people 2024 awarded to Potenza by the Youth Council, Department for youth policies and universal civil service of the Presidency of the Council and the ‘Italian Youth Agency.
“Our city has enormous potential.” Fanelli said. «A human and cultural capital that has too often not been valorised. Changing this paradigm is for me, for us, a duty. We owe it to our young people who are the present and not, as everyone says, the future of our city. We want to transform Potenza into the city of opportunities. We want to do it with actions, not words. We have already demonstrated this by opening the Master’s Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery in the city, giving our young people the opportunity to train and stay in the area. This is how we combat depopulation.”
The other three candidates, however, continue to stay out of the fray: Pierluigi Smaldone, candidate of a civic mini-coalition led by the 5 Star Movement and the Greens; Francesco Giuzio, supported by La Basilicata Possible; and Maria Grazia Marino, head of the Forza del Popolo list.
“I believe in the politics of smiles and handshakes.” Smaldone declared yesterday from his Facebook wall. “I believe that kind language is better than a vulgar insult.”
Giuzio, however, spoke about the need for a truly inclusive school, commenting on the presence in Potenza, for Student Day, of Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty international, and recalling the proposals brought in this regard by Basilicata Possible.
