The Sicilian regional deputy and leader of Controcorrente, Ismaele La Vardera, presented the symbol of his candidacy for the presidency of the Region and launched the campaign: “Call me Ismaele”. The first names who will stipulate the government program were also presented. University professors, doctors, regional managers and among them also the nephew of the first president of the Region, Giuseppe Alessi: “There is time for armchair appointments, today I put on the table a method to change this land. The coalition has no more excuses, let’s work on the program”, he underlined during the press conference at Ars. The symbol, by La Vardera’s choice, will not have his surname but his first name to indicate his closeness to the people, a unicum in the history of symbols of presidential candidates.
“When I’m out and about – said the candidate for president – everyone calls me by name, and it’s also nice. That’s why I tell everyone to call me Ismaele. I want to be everyone’s president, the one close to the people and who doesn’t need frills. Today someone was expecting the names of the three designated councilors – began La Vardera – perhaps some important names in the political world. I, instead, present to you the Technical-Scientific Committee to stipulate the government programme. There are top-level names ranging from university professors as a regional manager and also the experience, with the nephew of the first president of the region, Giuseppe Alessi”. And the first names of these super technicians are that of the full professor of Economics Andrea Cirà; Maria Cristina Stimolo, former general manager of the department of extra-regional affairs and was also a point of reference in the management of institutional relations between the Region and national and European bodies. And again Michele Secretary, researcher at the University of Berkeley (California) expert in studies on migration and the Italian diaspora, Francesco Paolo Tocco, university professor of medieval history in Messina. Giuseppe Lo Presti, teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo.
There is also space for healthcare with courageous doctor Francesco Caronia and doctor Giovanni Di Vita, cardiologist in charge of the cardiac intensive care unit of the Sciacca hospital. For sport, the world kickboxing champion Elena Pantaleo and finally also the architect Giuseppe Alessi, nephew of the first president of the Sicilian Region Giuseppe Alessi. “Now the coalition has no more excuses – added La Vardera – we have the opportunity to work on the government program with top exponents that I make available to everyone. If anyone had branded this conference as yet another escape forward, they were wrong, it is just the latest proof of my availability given to the coalition also in terms of names. Obviously I ask all the parties in the broad field for names so as to participate in the construction of a new Sicily: clean, transparent and which makes the moral issue and competence its star polar. I often hear that La Vardera is just a complaint, but this is not the case. These top-level names will accompany me in the construction, because we are not just what they say but also a concrete proposal”.
And the deputy did not fail to recall what happened with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “With that message – she concluded – she demonstrated that she is no longer lucid. While the world is in crisis, there is an ongoing war and Sigonella is in her sights, she is thinking of criticizing my political actions. I have no words. The Giorgia that I met, among other things, would have used the same yardstick in Sicily as the one used in Rome, throwing out her party colleagues under investigation. And I publicly ask her to come to her senses, to deal with the Sicilian question and to send the government home Schifani”.