Tired faces, long faces and little desire to fight. The only one smiling and rested is him, Alberto Cirio who, barring miracles, will be re-elected president of the Piedmont region from Monday.
It went like this the last confrontation before the electoral silence among the candidates for the presidency of Piedmont. In the Rai studios the four contenders abandoned their war helmets, showing a more relaxed attitude towards the centre-right candidate. To the question “what don’t you want to dismantle from the previous council?” the answers are numerous. For Francesca Frediani of Piedmont Popolare “the law on Animal Welfare and School Psychology” must be saved. From the centre-left Pentenero pushes for “institutional harmony” and “on healthcare hiring that must not stop”.
Sarah Disabato, candidate of the 5 Star Movement which had seemed the toughest in recent confrontations, even made a long list of laws constructed in the Regional Council: «Free tattoo after cancer breast cancer, the diagnosis of fibromalgia, industrial hemp and the stranded credits of the superbonus”. But then he points out: “It’s the general vision that doesn’t convince us.”
The only candidate to give a boost is the anti-system Alberto Costanzo, candidate with Freedom who explains: «We cannot share a neo-liberal vision». It is the 62-year-old lawyer who attempts to pressure Cirio and the other candidates on several occasions, also relaunching the shock proposal of the local currency. In this specific case, the centre-right candidate jokes about it: I will make him councilor of my council. If he manages to print Piedmontese money I think it’s a good thing.”
Beyond jokes and fair play, Healthcare is still the key theme of this electoral campaign. The right to health for four of the five candidates (except Costanzo) appears both as the starting point for the 5 years of government and as an objective to be achieved by the end of the mandate. Is Frediani and Pentenero speak of the need for a “real socio-health plan”. Disabato relaunches on «a public health plan that reinternalizes some services such as the Cup, that eliminates waiting lists and that plans to strengthen home care».
For his part Cirio says he already has the answer in his pocket: «We will revolutionize the Cup. We have already changed it in everything we could without getting sued, because we were under a contract taken by the centre-left. When the deadline expires in October we will change the system using the same method as vaccinations.” Pentenero replies on this point: «Some corrective interventions could have been made on the current Cup. For example, the CUP’s diaries do not correspond to those of the hospitals and this leads to unbearable waiting lists. Today the data tells us that our healthcare has worsened compared to 2019 and everyone has had Covid.” On the topic, Disabato is already looking to the new regional council: «We must all work on reservations in healthcare».
On the risk of abstentionism, Costanzo once again takes the lead: «The parties no longer represent the citizens, they only pursue their interests». The 5 Star candidate replies: «A force to be anti-system should involve new exponents rather than old political acquaintances».
At the end of the debate the topic of pro-Palestine students also enters. Frediani condemns the “baton beatings of the students because they were asking for peace. We are following a path of inclusion to truly understand the issues that interest them.”
Cirio thinks differently: “It’s right to demonstrate but the school is the school and – referring to the prayer of Imam Brahim Baya – it cannot be a place of religious concepts”.
