“On 8 and 9 June I will go to vote and I will vote 5 yes, but what really matters is the value of participation”. So the mayor of Catanzaro Nicola Fiorita in his speech during a public meeting on the referendum. Fiorita has chosen not to enter into the merits of the questions, leaving room for the experts and promoters of the referendum, but wanted to underline the importance of the vote as a fundamental expression of democracy.
“Democracy – he claimed – is not only the government of those who get the most votes, but a system of rules, counterweights, constitutional limits and comparison between ideas. You can legitimately choose your orientation, but using abstention to condition the result means damage our democratic system ». For the mayor of Catanzaro, the risk is that disaffection to vote can gradually affect one of the fundamental pillars of democracy. «When you get used to winning even by inducing people not to participate – he said – one of the founding values of our democratic life is undermined. For this reason, as mayor, I feel the duty to invite citizens to inquire, confront and participate. The vote must be a free and transparent comparison tool ».