12 and 13 June 2004. Cateno De Luca is 32 years old and as mayor of Fiumedinisi and with an already solid career as a trade unionist behind him with Fenapi, he decides to run in the European elections. It does this by launching the list New Country, a list of Christian-democratic inspiration which also draws inspiration from the symbol of the Crusader shield. Now 20 years later, the former mayor of Messina and current mayor of Taormina is trying again. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since 2004 and the visibility of the leader of South Calls North has significantly increased.
This morning in Rome, De Luca officially launched the push towards the vote on 8 and 9 June with the Freedom front ready to take the field with numerous movements. The objectives of the former candidate for the presidency of the Sicilian Region are multiple: realistically the 4% threshold is too big an objective to reach. It would mean winning something like 1.2, 1.3 million votes throughout Italy. The “creature” of the political volcano of Fiumedinisi is growing and can be seen in the polls, but from here to 4% there is a long way to go. What is certain is that a flattering result in the European elections would give Cateno De Luca the strength to be even more significant, especially in Sicily, also because the declared objective is to try again to rise to the presidency of the Sicilian Region. At the last regional elections, the De Luca Mayor of Sicily – South calls North list came close to achieving a historic result, placing third among the most voted lists with 13.6% behind only Fratelli d'Italia and Forza Italia. In the province of Messina De Luca broke through the 25% wall, effectively lapping Forza Italia and Fratelli d'Italia. De Luca is playing the game on this ground, as well as trying to broaden his horizons especially in the southern regions.
How it went in 2004
Twenty years ago the Paese Nuovo list led by Cateno De Luca obtained 0.24% of the votes at a national level, equal to 77,704 in absolute value. In the island constituency (Sicily and Sardinia) he came close to 1%, gaining 0.83% with 26,115 votes. In the southern constituency he received 0.43%, equal to 31,016 votes. In the province of Messina the Paese Nuovo list garnered 1.66% with 5055 votes, while Cateno De Luca won 4142 preferences.