The split between the Pd and M5s in Bari risks giving the centre-right a greater chance of wresting the city government from the centre-left. The first to make it clear was the dem secretary Elly Schlein just yesterday from the stage of “Andiamo!” in support of the mayoral candidate Vito Leccese, supported by the dems: “I want to say it clearly: this is how they help the right”, she underlined. “We will support Vito even if he still wants to attempt dialogue to find a unitary solution, but without accepting any imposition”, writes Schlein today on Facebook. The alliance topic, however, for now is off the radar of the Movement, committed to reiterating that “for us legality remains an indisputable and non-negotiable bulwark”, denying with a note from the press office a quotation mark attributed to Conte by la Repubblica, according to which the M5s president said ‘it is not certain that the dissolution of the Municipality of Bari is so illegitimate…'”. “What was written is part of a distorted reading in which one would like to attribute to Conte even a logic of mere opportunistic and electoral convenience”, they say again, dismissing “a toxic narrative that we flatly reject to the sender, which stands in contrast to the clear stance taken by President Conte against the instrumental and paradoxical initiatives of the right-wing exponents who nominated people who are currently at the center of investigations for vote swapping and would like to break the bank by placing the Municipality of Bari under special administration”. “All the political action of Conte and M5s – we read in the note – aims to counter this right which claims to be falsely upset from the events of recent days but at the same time moves to weaken legality and anti-corruption safeguards. It is clear that the M5s cannot ignore the facts and shrug in the face of unclear situations that have given rise to the serious investigations underway.”
But calls for unity are coming from other allies on the left. “A common element of decision would have been necessary” in the choice to stop the primaries for the Si leader and Avs deputy Nicola Fratoianni. “Now we can get out of a similar situation in the only possible way, by stubbornly seeking a unitary solution – he adds – to win the elections in Bari we need alliances. So, where there are difficulties, there is a need for the mayoral candidates to come to an agreement and indicate a unitary solution. There is no other way. Let us work in this direction. The point is not the wide, narrow, right or not right field. The point is to build an alternative model to the right, c ‘it is the possibility to do it and we must stubbornly work in this direction.”
More clear with Conte is Angelo Bonelli, another voice of Avs: “Interrupting the primaries in Bari was an incomprehensible fact and a damage for the city. Yesterday Vito Leccese expressed his willingness to take one step back to take three steps forward. Now it is up to Laforgia to take this step back, we are waiting for it” “Welcome to planet Earth, the nation of Italy, dear Elly Schlein. Did it take Bari’s slap in the face to wake up the Nazarene from his ideological fascinations in Thai style? – says Enrico Borghi, group leader in the Senate of Italia Viva – we had already seen that Conte helped the right. Now, however, in politics we must be consequent: and draw the conclusion that the entire political line of the so-called ‘wide field’ is a failure, and useful only to allow the right to gain easy profits. Because otherwise, dear Elly, we are not engaging in politics, but situationism.” “In Bari it seemed that the centre-right had exploited the situation, but in the end the judiciary moved forward revealing further scandals. The real political attack came from Conte who broke the centre-left alliance. For us this is a favorable situation but we are people series and we feel like giving a real alternative in a region like Puglia where the center-left is very rooted. Winning won’t be easy but it is possible by giving a serious response”, confirms to Omnibus the deputy and national head of Forza Italia departments, Alessandro Cattaneo . “I then hope that after years and years of the left with Decaro and Emiliano, the centre-right, I hope led by the League and with a candidacy from the League, will also win in Bari. But not for the investigations, not for the shootings, not for the families mafia, not for the vote exchange. I’ll let the judges and journalists work on that”, says Northern League leader Matteo Salvini from Milan.