If we make the starting line coincide with the announcement of Federico Basile’s resignation as mayor, then we can say that we have just “over the top” the first two months of the electoral campaign. Moreover, the official candidacy of the first competitor, in chronological order, Marcello Scurria, arrived within two weeks, even before the resignation became definitive. Then, not without some stumbles, the picture was completed.
In this first phase Basile often had the leader of South Calls North, Cateno De Luca, at his side, especially in public outings, from the most impressive ones – first Palacultura, then PalaRescifina – to the various press conferences-rallys in the Vittorio Emanuele gallery. No “couple” outings, however, on the occasion of the various stages around the city, including those underway in recent days in the districts. This is a phase in which Basile and De Luca concentrated on describing what has been done in the last eight years, announcing that from now on we will move on to defining the future program, the famous “strategic phase” mentioned several times.
Scurria and the Center-Right have also focused in this first glimpse on a clear communication strategy, aimed above all at attacking play and, therefore, at criticizing the work of the outgoing administration, declaring several times that the crucial points of the program will be revealed as the weeks go by. But from the first steps two key elements already emerge: the synergy with Calabria, from the perspective of the metropolitan area of the Strait, inevitably linked to the relations with Matilde Siracusano (with whom Scurria is in Rome these days) and with the centre-right governments of the two regions; the decentralization of powers and resources to the constituencies.
She started after Antonella Russo, candidate of the centre-left, who for this reason has some ground to make up on the hot fronts of the candidacies (both for the city council and for the constituencies), but has already sent clear messages on a front that, instead, Basile and Scurria only touch upon: the Bridge over the Strait, with respect to which the No of the coalition led by the PD councilor is evidently clear. As is that of Gaetano Sciacca and his Rinascita Messina movement, which in communicative terms has chosen to express itself through flash mobs in the street and a program that starts above all from rethinking what has been done so far in terms of urban mobility. Finally, it is predominantly on social media that the electoral campaign of outsider Lillo Valvieri takes place, but he is faced with the most difficult challenge: collecting signatures to make his candidacy for mayor effective, and not just announced.
For the rest, there was no shortage of poisons and clashes (and complaints), especially on the Basile-Scurria axis, with several incursions by De Luca and much rarer interferences by the centre-right leaders. There are still twenty days to go until the presentation of the lists, and, however, the record of “pre-election” changes of shirt is already looming, inevitably a theme of this first phase of the race to vote. There have been various transitions from one coalition to another, some even surprising, such as the returns to the South calling for the North of Rosaria Di Ciuccio and Mirko Cantello, the transitions of Maria Fernanda Gervasi first (already at the end of October!) and Peppe Chiarella then from Forza Italia to the court of Basile-De Luca, with the second to the last running for the fourth district, and the reverse path of Alessandro Costa, who is instead the outgoing president of the first. Not to mention Nicola Lauro who leaves the Center-Right to “embrace” the cause of La Vardera, Renato Coletta who instead chooses Basile and the most anomalous case: the “diaspora” in the DC led by Giovanni Caruso.
In the background, an army of candidates: around 1,800 are expected, if not more, between the city council and constituencies, of which more than half with the South call the North. This is also almost a record.
