by Daniele Bovi
After the changes regarding the organization of the electoral campaign in view of the run-off on 23 and 24 June there is also a change of tone. On Thursday the coalition that supports Margherita Scoccia decided to play the rhetorical weapon of us or them by talking about elections that “represent a watershed for the city”. On the one hand there would be “extremist ideology, outdated for centuries”, “souls, dreams and presumed rights to happiness”, on the other “responsibility”, “millionaire projects and investments that have restored wealth and confidence ».
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The fate of the city The ballot is portrayed as a vote that “will profoundly change the destiny of our city and our community” and a sort of judgment day in which to choose between “extremism and responsibility”, “fairytales versus real projects” and so on, up to brand the mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau, who met Ferdinandi in recent days, as the one of “anarchy and disorder”, of “theft and violence”. In short, election campaign. In reality there is decidedly much less at stake, primarily relationships and power structures, personal destinies and, more simply, two different visions of the city; both fully legitimate.
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Good versus Evil And so the centre-right, after the mild tones – too many according to many – chooses the path of overheating and the antithesis between Good and Evil, of the distorted representation of the adversary, of the identification of an enemy to strengthen and consolidate its own side and try to convince the undecided; roads already traveled many times in the past, from Berlusconi to Renzi. The extremism card, already played in recent weeks, does not seem to have paid off looking at the results of the polls. In addition to this, the contrast between us and them and between good and evil seems to run counter to an electoral campaign based on the theme of “everyone’s city”; it is difficult to imagine a “city for everyone” in which almost 50 percent of voters are branded as extremists.
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Ferdinandi «After three months – replies Ferdinandi – the right continues to promote an electoral campaign made up of exploitation and delegitimisation of the opponent, trying to crush us on extremist positions which are only the fruit of instrumental fantasies. Instead of asking ourselves why the citizens expressed such a severe and negative opinion on the outgoing council, not renewing their trust in half of the councillors, we continue to attack, as if on one side there were dreams and on the other solid realities”. The centre-left candidate goes on the attack on the conditions of the roads, labeling the 40 million in two years promised by Scoccia for the city asphalt as a “dream book” and recalling that “there is not even a preliminary feasibility study” regarding that new master plan with which the opponent “conducted the entire electoral campaign”.
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The criticisms Ferdinandi then underlines, in relation to the “green and sustainable city”, that “this was the administration of the major variations that led Perugia to overbuild what is the equivalent of 100 football fields in recent years”. There is also criticism for the Tari, which instead of decreasing has increased “constantly since 2020″. The candidate also goes on the attack on the issue of healthcare, «one of the greatest urgencies of our citizens. An urgency about which the outgoing administration felt it did not have to say a single word.” Criticism also for the many empty spaces found in the center and the demand for a campaign based on “listening, participation and concrete proposals”. As for the «confusion between extremism and radicalism», the latter «means having the courage and taking responsibility for one’s choices. Choices linked to one’s vision, which is what has been dramatically missing in all these years, so Perugia has been administered like a condominium.”
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Alliances And while the coalitions battle, the game of alliances is also being played out secretly. The polarization left crumbs to the three remaining candidates, who together did not exceed four percent, in absolute terms 2,254 votes. Massimo Monni, the worthy candidate from Perugia, obtained 1.4 percent, Leonardo Caponi 0.54 and Davide Baiocco 0.76. Monni spoke with both candidates and on Saturday morning, a few hours before the last day to establish any possible alliances, he will explain what he will do. Baiocco also spoke with the centre-right, a hypothesis obviously excluded for Caponi’s PCI, but for now no one has decided anything.
