For the run-off in Potenza there is no connection for Telesca but there is a programmatic agreement on the left with Giuzio and Smaldone
POTENZA – There will be no formal identification of the centre-left forces on the ballot papers for the run-off in the Municipality of Potenza. The two aspiring mayors in the race – Francesco Fanelli for the center-right and Vincenzo Telesca for the moderates and progressives – will each continue to run with the lists from the first hour in support: seven for the first and five for the second. At least officially. Because the centre-left forces – namely those of Vincenzo Telesca and the other two mayoral candidates who emerged from the dispute in the first round, Pierluigi Smaldone and Francesco Giuzio – have found, on the eve of the deadline for possible alliances, a “program agreement” which will lead them to run together in the final challenge on 23 and 24 June to be brought to the centre-right. In short, no formal alliance, but the lists of Smaldone and Giuzio will still be alongside Telesca in the race for mayor.
Telesca, Smaldone and Giuzio themselves announced the programmatic agreement yesterday, after meeting one last time, in a joint statement, reconstructing the phases that led to this decision. Smaldone, representing the civic lists “Potenza Ritorna”, “Città Nuova” and “Five Star Movement”, and Giuzio, exponent of “La Basilicata Possible”, proposed a formal alliance. Telesca instead proposed «a programmatic agreement aimed at sharing a project that not only looks at the liberation of Potenza from the Right, but which finally finds the way to the aggregation of a reformist and progressive camp in Basilicata». The latter proposal was “positively evaluated” by Smaldone and Giuzio, who “shared the inspiring principles”.
«The spirit that unites the three mayoral candidates – it is written in the note – starts from the sharing of a vision, planning and planning necessary for the capital.
Among the qualifying points of the shared program: stopping land consumption by encouraging urban regeneration and the reuse of abandoned properties;
connection between the University and the social fabric of the city; request to the Government for the appointment of an extraordinary commissioner for Bucaletto; incisive action towards the Region and the Government for the construction of the Polla link to the Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed line; activation of the Teatro Stabile Foundation by November 2024 (so as to be able to apply for funding in January 2025); extraordinary plan for the districts and suburbs with the creation of a district department; attention to the historic centre, in its peculiarities, with the appointment of the councilor for the Historic Center and Tourism (read exemption for commercial premises, review of the mechanized and road transport service, urban decoration; establishment of a Sports Citadel; valorisation of the beauties naturalistic and green areas and review of the separate waste collection system; evaluation of a municipal company for the autonomous management of transport for Potenza and neighboring towns”.
Thanks to the agreement, Telesca – which received 32.4 percent of the votes in the first round – expects to be able to oust Fanelli in the run-off, taking into account that Smaldone won 17.6% and Giuzio 8%. Of course, the sum of the first round votes is not automatic. There are many variables, starting with the number of councilors in the chamber, which would have been more conspicuous for the teams of Smaldone and Giuzio, with the official affiliation in the event of victory. But that’s it, in the name of creating “a political laboratory”.
Telesca’s opponent, Francesco Fanelli, who received 40.6% of the votes in the first round, will be forced, on paper, to follow. But yesterday he still showed off confidence: «Finally the veil falls – he wrote in a post on his social page -. In the first round they had insulted each other and promised that there would never be a tie. Today, one step away from defeat, they are desperately trying to get together to try to save their seat. Now or never, they say, trying to save themselves. For us, now or never means something else: sending them home. Together. The choice is clear: their mess or our coherence.”
Even the secretaries of the parties that support Fanelli have taken to the field: «Reading some of the programmatic points signed, it is clear that the good of the city is once again being sold off in front of the seats to be shared. We have always been united and coherent, they first hid the symbols and now they are trying to get their hands back on power and the city. We talked about the vision of the city, they talked about partisan interests. The difference is all here. We will continue to be free, they will continue to submit to these games that damage, and will continue to do so, all those in power. Our electoral campaign – they concluded – continues and is filled with even more enthusiasm”.
