«We believed in it all the way and today’s result, although formally speaking of a defeat, actually shows how close we were to victory». This is the comment of the mayor of Cosenza Franz Caruso on the outcome of the vote for the presidency of the Province of Cosenza.
«We missed the finish line by a very narrow margin – continues Caruso – there are just 1370 preferences (only four votes from the green band) that separate us from Biagio Faragalli. However, the political data that emerges from this consultation is extremely significant: my candidacy obtained 8160 votes more than the lists that supported me, while the opposing candidate recorded 8830 votes less than the centre-right lists. It is an element that demonstrates how my proposal as a presidential candidate represented a political point of reference for a large part of the province’s administrators.”
The mayor also underlines that in the final count “there were two blank ballots and one annulled ballot on my name in the large-scale Municipalities seat”, elements which, according to Caruso, “impacted the final margin”, without however diminishing “its political significance”.
«Broader consensus than the lists»
«Certainly – underlines Caruso – a wider political consensus has consolidated around my name than the mere strength of the lists that supported the centre-left project. A result that I consider a victory on a political and personal level and which demonstrates how a concrete demand for change exists in the province of Cosenza.”
«The final push that could have handed over the leadership of the body to the centre-left was missing, but the battle was compelling and intense, fought until the last vote alongside many mayors and administrators. My most sincere thanks go to them, with particular reference to the healthy forces of the center-left and to the many young representatives who encouraged and supported me, also in organizing the electoral campaign.”
«Opening a phase of reflection in the center-left»
«We have faced this challenge with determination and team spirit – adds Caruso – despite having a strong and organized regional apparatus in front of us, while within us there remain encrustations that we must immediately know how to remove».
According to the mayor of Cosenza, the result nevertheless highlights “the existence in the province of Cosenza of a large area of administrators, civic energies and political forces that asks for change and that has chosen to commit to building a serious and concrete alternative”.
«Precisely for this reason – concludes Franz Caruso – today it is necessary to open a phase of reflection and greater clarity within the centre-left camp. If we want to return to being competitive we must courageously and responsibly rediscover the reasons for unity, overcoming divisions and ambiguities and working on a shared political project that truly puts the territories, mayors, administrators and local communities at the centre. The challenge for the future of the Province of Cosenza does not end today, but starts again from here.”