LECCE – The mayoral candidates in the “competition” cannot make major maneuvers in view of the runoff because they have already taken everything they could aggregate. But, in a scenario that sees the city divided in two, the 1,727 votes that the two outsiders of the electoral round, Alberto Siculella (890) and Agostino Ciucci (837) added, would be useful to those who remained in the game. An official alliance appears to be ruled out, also because neither of the two has exceeded the threshold to enter the Council and therefore has no seats to bring as a “endowment”, but that there may be collaboration agreements on specific programmatic points and therefore support for the run-off , it is not excluded.
Ciucci had declared well before the vote that, due to the transversal nature of his civic list, he considered it more logical to leave freedom of vote in the runoff, while Siculella will announce on Tuesday whether he will support one of the two candidates or whether he will leave his electorate free. However, it seems that yesterday morning he met Salvemini.
Ciucci’s movement (the doctor is still in hospital although clearly recovering after the illness of recent days), however, at the end of last night’s meeting, found a united position on a motion. There is no alignment, the independence from the right and left alignments is reiterated and the no to the logic of “sharing seats”. And, “consistent with the positions already expressed”, the list reiterates “that it is against supporting the candidate Carlo Salvemini, who has not been able to be the representative of all citizens and has not guaranteed constitutional rights”. Freedom of choice, therefore, but no to Salvemini. While, on a personal level, Ciucci gives explicit indication of voting for Poli Bortone.
Siculella prefigures apocalyptic scenarios and takes time: «As we feared, the current scenario perfectly photographs all the elements that pushed us to try to be an alternative to a duopoly. The climate in the city is really heavy, a community torn apart by a clash between factions. These days we receive considerable pressure, and it is important to reiterate that for us politics is not power, but a public function. For us in politics there are no enemies, but adversaries. We are an open and participatory laboratory based on ideas and contents with which we fuel a constructive and constant dialogue. We will hold a press conference on Tuesday to publicly define our position.”
These are days of great turmoil, on both sides, with the center-right’s desire to take back the city and the center-left’s desire not to give up. The candidates who risk not entering the council, in the event of the defeat of their mayoral candidate, are pressing. It promises to be an even closer match than the first round. Those 33 votes that according to the centre-right Poli Bortone lacked to win in the first round leave the party bitterly bitter, while on the other side there is the relief of being able to play, after the discouragement felt when the opponent exceeded 50 by hundred.
A face-to-face meeting between Adriana Poli Bortone and directors and journalists of the main newspapers will be held this evening at 8pm in the cloister of the former Convitto Palmieri.
«A meeting without secrets, during which the senator will answer journalists’ questions in an open and transparent manner», announce the staff of the centre-right mayoral candidate.
Participating in the discussion will be Claudio Scamardella, editorialist of the Corriere del Mezzogiorno, Mimmo Mazza, director of the Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Rosario Tornesello, director of the Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia, Giovanni Sebastio, director of Antenna Sud, Gianfranco Lattante, director of Tr News, Pierfrancesco Albanese, of the Bari Republic.
