“One electoral campaign is over and another begins immediately.” In the words of the regional coordinator of South Calls North, Danilo Lo Giudice, one of Cateno De Luca’s historic loyalists, there is all the meaning of this long political phase that began even before Federico Basile’s resignation as mayor – the convention at the end of January in Caltagirone can be identified as an opening moment – and which certainly does not end with Federico Basile’s electoral success. A fundamental, crucial stage of this journey, but still a stage. It was perceived with sufficient clarity on the day of the elections itself, on a Monday evening of celebration but not too much, and it was seen even more first-hand on Friday evening, in the meeting in Piazza Unione Europea which, at least in the announcements, should have been the party – this time yes – in honor of Basile’s return to Palazzo Zanca and which instead became the opening rally of the electoral campaign for the regional elections of Cateno De Luca and South Calls North.
Just look at the “architecture” of the evening and the times: Basile spoke almost at the beginning and for about twenty-five minutes, partly together with the elected presidents of the six constituencies out of the seven conquered, De Luca closed the event, remaining on stage alone for over an hour, before the final embrace with the re-elected mayor.
The outline is linear, it follows a path that has been evident for months and the confirmation is also in the few words of Basile himself, obviously more than satisfied with his historic encore: «I asked you to give me the opportunity to continue to change the city, to continue the work started by Cateno De Luca in 2018. Our monochrome has totally canceled out the political forces of the Center-Right and Center-Left, in a city that has been torn apart by these political forces. And today Messina is the center of gravity of regional and, why not, national political issues.”
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