A problem with politics is its often incomprehensible, sometimes cryptic and often over the top language. The progressive detachment between the polls and the voters is caused by the lack of harmony with the ruling classes, by mutual distrust. From imagining – rightly or wrongly, perhaps with a good dose of fatalism or pure indifference – that in the Italian land of leopards nothing ever changes, always, regardless of the outcome of this or that electoral competition. A bitter, pessimistic conclusion, which precipitates disillusionments and betrayed hopes, misplaced expectations and unjustified (or merely interested) credit openings. So speaking the language of people without trivializing ideas and proposals, meeting citizens in the places where everyday life takes place, remains a duty for those who make politics a profession. The election result, among Lecce And Barican be read (also) like this, without learned analyzes and wise disquisitions.
The Salento capital changes leadership and government. It returns to the center-right, as has happened in these parts in 69 of the 78 years of republican Italy, if the numbers make sense of things. The parentheses are linked precisely to the relevant experiences Salvemini: first Stefano, the father; then Carlo, his son. Let it be said to their credit, above all for correctness, ability and loyalty. Bari, however, remains firmly in the hands of the centre-left at the end of an unfortunate political season, punctuated by investigations and controversies. Culminating, then, with the arrival of the ministerial commission which will have to say whether or not the Municipality has suffered mafia pressure, succumbing to it: the European and municipal ones gave a plebiscite to the outgoing mayor Antonio Decaro (destination Brussels) and its political part (confirmed at the city hall). Without the ingenuity of the pentastellati led by Conte, who arrived in Bari to impose their claimed solution to a worrying moral issue, thus blowing up the primary table in the perimeter of the wide field, the match would have ended already in the first round .
The votes are eloquent: the preferences expressed and the indications provided indicate that elementary things such as speaking clearly, being among the people, listening to the voice of the people starting from their needs, are all aspects that cannot be ignored: they cannot replace the govern well, with commitment and honesty, but neither can they be ignored, precisely because they are basic conditions for good administration. Especially in the era of intense communication, of forced connection, of the flood of social expressions, direct and immediate contact remains fundamental.
The Decaro effect in Bari, with evident repercussions on the overwhelming election of Vito Lecceseand the return of Adriana Poli Bortone in Lecce for a third term are – despite the distinctions of the case and net of the judgments of merit – different manifestations of the same way of living the relationship with the citizens. Made of proximity, of closeness. Of simplicity. Of clarity. Of instant empathy. From the live television broadcasts of “call Decaro” to the electoral claim of “vote Adriana”, with that article in front of the first name which here in the South has always characterized the female gender and cheerfully doesn’t care about any cloying rules of political correctness. So one breaks through, the other returns. As always, the judgment is and will be on the things done. On the idea of the future for a city and a territory told with punctuality and precision.
Now the vote goes to the archives. The priority shifts: Bari and Lecce need to end the season of poisons, accusations and suspicions. The regional capital has experienced media overexposure for the use and consumption of the political dispute: it did not do the center-right any good to push the accelerator on the suspected compromises of the Municipality with the organized crime. The result of the polls should have taught – once again – that the electoral data is affected little or nothing by the judicial implications of the ongoing investigations, beyond the aspects of responsibility. Lecce, then, experienced a surge of tension between the first and second rounds which – between press releases, parliamentary questions and complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office – must absolutely not have consequences in the relationship between political parties, with damage to the entire community: the baroque capital he hands over the mayor’s seat to the long-serving senator, but distributes the consensus almost equally, with a difference of just a few votes. And above all after a notable turnout at the polls, a sign of how heartfelt the match was. A city split in two by the vote is not a good start.
Thus the first commitment of the new governments is to end the season of resentment and start again with that of dialogue, debate and comparison. Outside, there is only chaos. Which doesn’t always generate dancing stars.
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