Todde’s forfeiture order shakes Sardinia: the scenarios

The shock to the government of the Sardinia region arrives on the evening of January 3, Friday. An ordinance/injunction, signed by the president of the regional electoral guarantee board at the Court of Appeal of Cagliari, Gemma Cucca, risks bringing Sardinia back to voting again just over a year after the last elections won on 25 February 2024 from Campo largo.

In the 10 pages seen by AGI, seven points accuse President Alessandra Todde of a serious series of irregularities in the reporting of electoral expenses (for a declared total of 90,629 euros) which led the College to instruct the President of the Regional Council, Piero Comandini, to start the procedure to declare the dismissal of the regional councilor. Not only that: the ordinance, which Todde announced he wanted to challenge, was also sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Cagliari, to evaluate the “anomalies” found in the deposited declarations. Furthermore, the provision orders the president to pay 40 thousand euros, as an administrative penalty, to the Revenue Agency within the next 30 days.

“I am peacefully at work, even after a discussion with my majority”, declares the president, presenting herself smiling at the press point this morning in the Regional Council in Cagliari, after an urgent meeting with the group leaders of the Campo Largo parties. “The administrative act arrived yesterday from the Court of Appeal will follow its path and will be managed by my lawyers. I reiterate my full confidence in the judiciary and in the actions of the Committee that represented me for the elections. I have full motivation and full legitimacy to continue working for the Sardinians and so I will do so.”

“I heard from the president of the M5S Giuseppe Conte and the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein”, added Todde. “I have the support of my political force and of all those in the majority who are working to support me.”

The objections were notified last November and in December Todde presented a brief to clarify his position.

The protests. According to the Electoral College of Guarantee, it is not clear whether the expenses indicated in the documents filed concern the expenses of the individual candidate for the office of president or for the electoral campaign of the candidates for the office of councilor supported by the M5S. From the bank statement produced it emerges that the electoral campaign was also financed by parties other than the one Todde belonged to, in particular by the Pd and Sinistra futuro. The second complaint, considered irremediable, is the failure to appoint the agent, a mandatory figure for the collection of electoral campaign funds, an omission from which the other contested irregularities derive.

On 4 December, through her lawyer, the president filed a brief to respond to the observations of the regional electoral guarantee board. A document to be considered not only supplementary to previous declarations, but a replacement. According to the Board, however, that statement cannot resolve the disputes raised, as the legislator does not allow previous declarations to be replaced with another of contrary content.

The Ballero law firm of Cagliari, to which Alessandra Todde has entrusted herself, is studying the provision to verify how and before which judge it will be challenged. “We are convinced of the correctness of the president’s actions”, lawyer Stefano Ballero tells AGI. “From a substantial point of view there are no compelling reasons to order the measure to ascertain the prerequisite of ineligibility, in particular the exceeding of double the expected expenses and the failure to submit the reporting. And this is not the case”. “In our opinion, while respecting the work of the Guarantee Board, there are no conditions for forfeiture”, claims Ballero. “We are studying the most suitable legal instruments to contest the merits of the provision, trusting that the non-existence of the forfeiture will be established.”

The Scenarios. The situation regarding the first elected president of the M5S Region is unprecedented in the history of Sardinian autonomy. The forfeiture of the president would lead to the dissolution of the Regional Council and the calling of new elections within 90 days, as required by Sardinia’s electoral statute law. The transitional management, limited to ordinary administration only, would be entrusted to the vice president of the Region (in this case, Giuseppe Meloni of the Democratic Party) who would assume the role of acting president.

The forfeiture provision is not immediately enforceable, according to what was communicated by the president’s staff. The injunction order provides for the initiation of the forfeiture procedure on the basis of article 15, paragraph 7 of law 515 of 1993. Consequently – it is underlined – there is no immediate forfeiture and the president continues to act in the fullness of his powers.