LECCE – It was supposed to be the day dedicated to electoral silence and reflection for the run-off vote on Sunday and Monday. The same one that imposes the law which explains that “on the day before and on those established for the elections, rallies and direct or indirect electoral propaganda meetings in public places or places open to the public are prohibited”.
The fact is that the last crossfires in Lecce, on the immediate eve of the second electoral round to decree the designation of the new mayor of the city between the centre-left candidate Carlo Salvemini and the centre-right candidate Adriana Poli Bortone, were played out precisely a few hours after the reopening of polling stations and polls. Interrupting the static time of ambivalent silence.
What stirred things up were the compact notes of the centre-right parties and movements who also sent a complaint to the prefect Luca Rotondi to report “a very serious violation of the rules that impose electoral silence on the eve of the municipal elections for the renewal of the municipal council”.
The reported violation would be linked to a private, closed-door meeting that the President of the Region, Michele Emiliano, convened in a city hotel in the morning with the head doctors and other professional and social figures and therefore not only from the healthcare sector. Following a response in an interview given to a local broadcaster, the governor also underlined how his presence in Lecce was linked to the desire to be close, in these hours, to the electoral dispute in support of the outgoing mayor Carlo Salvemini.
Hence the position taken by the centre-right and the complaint and request for intervention by the prefect for what was deemed a “serious” violation of silence and the rules on electoral propaganda.
The reply on behalf of the centre-left was not long in coming, written by the PD deputy, Claudio Stefanazzi, who also addressed the prefect with a clarifying note on what was reported by his political opponents.
In his reply, Stefanazzi specified that the centre-right note refers to “an alleged violation of the electoral silence obligation. I would like to point out that the president, in full compliance with the regulations in force regarding electoral silence, greeted some friends belonging to different social and professional categories in a confidential manner and behind closed doors to also talk about the run-off in Lecce. As is clearly evident from what was declared by the writer of the television report which gave rise to the instrumental controversy of the centre-right”.
The PD parliamentarian reiterated that it was a private and closed-door event, therefore not institutional or public, and that only out of courtesy did President Emiliano answer the journalist’s question by crystal-clearly clarifying the reason for the meeting.
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