The mayoral candidate of the progressive camp, Antonio Gengaro, held a press conference at the electoral committee in Piazza Libertà. “I challenge Laura Nargi to an American-style public confrontation. The city must understand, in the crimes committed by the former mayor Gianluca Festa, what role she had. Even if it were only a role of naivety, we really want to entrust our city to a person who didn’t notice anything that was happening in the municipality?”, declared Antonio Gengaro. “To think that a person does not realize that in the municipality competitions are falsified, resolutions are not published, or every contract is awarded, or that the municipality’s computer disappears, is unthinkable. We do not entrust the city to people of this type. it is an evaluation that we must make. We talk about the future of Avellino, we are in the field for young people, for families, to reopen the swimming pool, the Autism Center, to restore the Customs, also to give the stadium to the fans of the ‘Avellino, to give the city a new and modern stadium, has disappeared from the three-year public works plans, reduced to an electoral promise, a sort of blackmail towards President D’Agostino, who I thank for what he does for the football. Then we are political opponents, but with us the stadium is a dimension of this city, which must become a citadel of sport. Because all these things happen in the city and we pretend that nothing has happened, that we are here to comb the dolls? It is not so. The option of this city, of this critical moment, is to understand where we want to take Avellino. Avellino has given life to the best of the political forces, of the associations, of the cultural forces, of the Catholic world that is committed every day in Avellino, above all to the service of the needs and the just. We are here for those people, to be accountable to those people, to imagine their future, to address the city’s problems, and for an administration that protects public interests.”
Phenomena and worlds that must be kept away from the city, never again a city understood as “one’s own”: “We found ourselves faced with a closed circuit of power, self-referential, which feeds only those closest to us. But it took the Commissioner Prefecture to finally give life to the shortlist for legal positions. It is something that is done all over the world. The public swimming pool is closed and inaccessible to disabled people, who can only swim in private facilities for a fee. How many times has the contract for the Customs been repeated In light of everything that has happened with the contracts in the city, some wonder: isn’t it? that in this blessed Customs contract it has never been possible to include the friendly company. We must think about this. Otherwise, the Customs would not have been at a standstill for five years, despite a project already implemented by previous administrations? These are elements that must be made known to the public. We look to the future, keeping in mind that our program includes an anti-mafia commission, because we are the land of the Partenio clan and Aste OK. They are phenomena and worlds that must be kept away from the city. The Municipality must put its face to it, it must face these worlds head on and must always ensure the work of the police and the judiciary. I don’t make moral judgments on anyone, because I guarantee the principle of non-guilt for everyone, but we can make political evaluations. A candidate for a competition arrives with the answers in his pocket, while all the other candidates, who didn’t have the answers in his pocket, the poor young people, are treated like second class. And we are still doing these things in 2024. There is a hungry for work and we, to satisfy one, displease a thousand. Competitions are no longer held with Municipality managers and officials. Imagine the pressure on these people. There are public agencies that do this for a living.”
Gengaro’s objective now is to maintain the preferences obtained in the first round: “The healthy part of the city’s public opinion will rebel. Even those who did not vote for me in the first round, since they rightly had other options, will join us Now, the challenge is between me and Nargi. Was Nargi an occasional presence in the Municipality of Avellino, a tourist by chance, did she not notice anything, or was she complicit in this system? I don’t know, this will be clarified from the judiciary, there are open investigations and documents already issued. I do not base my electoral campaign on this. I also openly challenge public opinion, represented by you, to ask the right questions there is not a huge issue in our city. I thank the political forces who supported and chose me, recognizing the need for change. I represent hope for this city, to restore pride and dignity, and also to rebuild the reputation of Avellino. We rebuilt it after the bombings, we rebuilt it after the earthquake, we will also rebuild it after the Festa/Nargi administration. I invite my voters, the center-left, the progressive front, not to abandon this battle. The first thing is to maintain our consensus, to be mobilized, dynamic, present. Then, if more is added, there will be a reflection: the choice of the people of Avellino will be what the best future for this city can be. So this is the question my supporters are asking, and they are the ones who have to decide. I hope they choose for the best, in the interests of future generations, the elderly, women, children, who have the right to civil services. Civil services! I remember that in previous years, without recommendations, you couldn’t even get an identity card.”
On the possibility of possible alliances on the ballot: “I dialogue with my city. It is clear that among the various political forces that have expressed themselves there are some, such as the one represented by D’Andrea, which have a significant weight. Even if it is understandable that, in some way, we discussed with him, I hope that at least on this topic there is a shared sensitivity. Boccieri represents a minority force, but he has shown interest in decentralization, one of the key themes of our program exponent of democratic and political Catholicism, with whom we share belonging to the same youth movement. I reiterate, I dialogue with the city, with the citizens of Avellino”.
On internal issues of the Democratic Party, specifically the mafia-related dissolution of the Municipality of Monteforte, represented by the former PD mayor Costantino Giordano, Gengaro concludes: “However, we are here to discuss the city of Avellino. They are all battles that I have fought, facing them head-on. I am not afraid of anyone, nor of the truth, and I do not hide the reality, even when it involves my own friends. In recent months I have faced difficult battles, especially regarding Monteforte. An impartial press should recognize this.”
