The political scientists of the Sicilian centre-right have declassified the “coat” received by the center-right in the referendum as a conservative expression (the “No” won in all the provinces, 9 to zero, the nemesis of the famous 61 to zero in the 2001 elections on the Berlusconi wave). The Sicilians would have entrusted to the polls “a vote of defense, not of proposal”. As if the voters had wanted to bunker the Constitution with respect to the renewing inspiration of the Nordio reform. A bizarre thesis, designed to try to sweeten more crude analyzes that are also maturing on the centre-right front. In reality, the breakdown of the vote, according to the criterion of awareness, does not give us the defense of a Constitution mummified as if it were a tribal fetish, but the desire to safeguard the balance between powers as a democratic heritage. And therefore a milestone to be protected against attempts to reshuffle checks and balances, in the wake of a centralizing twist. As Norberto Bobbio said, “when you can’t see clearly what’s in front, it’s natural to ask yourself what’s behind.”
In a less aware voting segment, allergic to the reform of the cups, the voters’ message shakes the Sicilian government. In recent years, social policies, from school to healthcare, have not reflected a perception of a turning point compared to the many delays on the island. After the doping effect of the Pnrr, the economic indicators risk deflating. Maybe the accounts will be more orderly, but the bitterest feeling – expressed in the polls – is that the Sicilian political class has even thrown away the mask, institutionalizing patronage privileges with unusual brazenness, such as “tips” to deputies, or the usual parcelling out of healthcare managers which forced Schifani to change the rules of the game. Anyone who tries to camouflage the political message of the referendum vote, isolating it from government action, already has to deal with a pressing internal branch. The disengagement of the center-right in Sicily can have different interpretations. Marina Berlusconi’s disappointment has only one. The political scientists of the Region, at least about this, should worry.
