It was a highly secret survey, commissioned by South Calls North, that dispelled even the last doubts. A survey through which a sample of Messina voters were asked if they were willing to vote for Federico Basile again, even in the event of his resignation and early voting. Well, Basile would enjoy a consensus between 44 and 47%, which would mean victory in the first round, without going through a run-off. This is obviously a voting intention made on a single certain name, that of the resigning mayor, and without knowing the profile of the opponents. But this data has strengthened the belief, developed for months in the De Luca-Basile household, that the electoral game must be played now and not next year, when too many crazy variables could enter, linked to national and regional political events. «In the spring of 2026 we can win in the first round, as happened in 2022», is the mantra of the “Deluchiani-Basiliani”.
Everything is at stake, of course. And these are feverish hours, with the still burning controversy of the Center-Right and Center-Left against the mayor who abandons the ship before having brought it to port, with the response entrusted to the statements of Cateno De Luca who engages in verbal duels with the entire constitutional spectrum, from the regional secretary of Forza Italia to the Democratic Party of Messina.
But De Luca also sends signals – and it is not the first time – towards his own team. It is a very lucid and honest analysis, that of the leader of the South calls the North: “We too are worn out, we need a revitalizing injection.” And, therefore, we return to the polls not only because we fear a possible vote of no confidence in the hall of Palazzo Zanca, where the number of councilors who support the Basile Administration has been drastically reduced over the last 4 years and where the Center-Right and Center-Left united, if they wanted, could send the mayor home. De Luca speaks of the “weight of attrition”, which “applies to the council and the councillors” and admits that the current team, which has achieved, according to the data highlighted during the numerous press conferences on Tuesday morning, “important results for the city”, would not be able to handle “phase 3 of the political-administrative project”, what De Luca himself defined as “the strategic phase”.
The ongoing conflict involves the regional level. The leader of South Calls North had said it during “Scirocco”, RTP’s Friday evening talk: «I rejected the offer from Schifani and the centre-right, they would have let me join the council but they wanted 4 departments in Messina. An inadmissible proposal, we are distinct and distant from them.” The rejected offer, therefore, would be one of the ingredients of Federico Basile’s resignation.
The regional secretary of Forza Italia, Marcello Caruso, responded to De Luca: «I have never made any proposal to Cateno De Luca, even if I wanted I wouldn’t have had the qualifications. I believe that De Luca needs to justify why a mayor is resigning at a time when a catastrophic situation needs to be addressed. De Luca and Basile demonstrate only one thing: irresponsibility, the stability of the government of Messina and the metropolitan city is sacrificed to pursue a mere political gain that aims exclusively to save his movement. This is “high betrayal” of the institutional role.” And on the proposal of the 4 departments of the Municipality of Messina, Caruso replies as follows: «We are faced with a mystification of reality to cover the greatest political embarrassment: the early resignation of the mayor of Messina. The rest is narrative constructed after the fact. I have never been delegated by any party to ask for positions in the Messina council, I represent Forza Italia, not the regional government. And I would never have been able to offer a position as councilor in the council: I don’t have the role, nor the power. The rest is political fantasy, useful only for building an alibi. Because Basile’s resignation is not an act of courage, but a tactical move to avoid no confidence. The numbers know it, the city councilors know it, the people of Messina know it. There is no conspiracy here: there is only the difficulty of admitting that a political season has stalled.”
And here is De Luca’s immediate counter-reply: «I thank Marcello Caruso for giving me the opportunity to point out that his insignificant political weight could not have allowed him to formulate important proposals such as departments for Renato Schifani’s regional council. I didn’t say that Caruso, known more as Schifani’s chief of staff than as regional secretary of Forza Italia, proposed that I join the Schifani council. This proposal is instead part of the pact defined with President Schifani at the conclusion of the non-belligerence phase “signed” on 30 October 2024 with expiration in December 2025. The political figures who defined this path are of a very different caliber, while Marcello Caruso was waiting behind the door. Also on this occasion he was able to play the role of ventriloquist for President Schifani, who increasingly downgrades him to a “silly servant” when Schifani himself does not have the courage to speak openly. Instead, it was Marcello Caruso who attempted to change the cards on the table, expressly formulating to Danilo Lo Giudice, regional secretary of Sud Gioca Nord, the request to apply a principle of reciprocity: you enter the regional council and we enter the Messina council, which was not part of the original pact”.