The great electoral appointment is approaching, the one, so to speak, in which the Sardinian people will once again be called to the polls to choose the new President of the Region.
The two different sides in the field, centre-right and centre-left, if such and such consistency were to really establish the term and the paradigm of the confrontation due to the subjective specificities existing within each of them, seem to begin to probe the their potential not without demonstrating, more or less openly, at least so it would seem, critical issues and issues to be resolved based on the choices that, on both sides, they will be called upon to make and which, as much as possible, must be such as to meet the approval of the electoral body that is about to face this new commitment at the end of a five-year period made very difficult by the pandemic event and its management first, and by the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict then.
Furthermore, just a few days ago, the Regional Council decided to start and implement the reform of local authorities, dating back to the year 2021, which will increase the number of Provinces as well as that of Metropolitan Cities. At the same time, the same Council also seems to have approved the specific article of the so-called "Annex" which updates, so to speak, the various deadlines, including the one deemed useful for calling the second level elections, postponed to 30 June 2024 .
Therefore, despite the well-known results of the referendum, the Reform seems to have found its point of arrival. Even if we want to ignore, even if we don't see how, every consideration regarding the practical and legal opportunity of such a choice, the circumstance, considered within the pre-electoral context, does not really seem negligible, especially on the of the concrete effects that would seem suitable to reflect on the mood of the electorate which sees the outcome of a shared choice cancelled, and/or in any case placed in nothing, almost like a sponge blow, which in the year 2012 had stigmatized the "feeling" in this regard, which, in truth, does not seem to have changed. Even more so when the possible "positioning" on the matter of the parties constituting the various alignments could probably appear to be decisive in directing the motivations for a future but not too distant vote, which is expected to be extremely unpredictable also due to the possible percentage of possible "abstentionism", which, if carefully considered, represents a variable of considerable importance within a geographical context characterized by significant phenomena of depopulation. And even more so when, representing the "referendum", together with the "popular legislative initiative" and the "petition", a fundamental instrument of so-called "direct democracy", the same was placed, at the time, precisely on the subject of Provinces , as an instrument of a majority solution which, currently, seems to have been disregarded.
Saying it differently: the key point, not to say crucial, would not seem to arise in the narrow terms of "provinces yes and provinces no", but rather in the much more imposing one of the political "value" that the group of party exponents has intended to attribute to that will expressed, inspired and supported "to" and "by" the principles of popular participation in the government of the territory.
Let's understand each other better: if it is true, as it is true, that the process of reforming the provincial system began way back in 2012, with the positive outcome of the two regional referendums for overcoming the provinces; therefore, if it is still true that such referendums, having had a positive outcome, had in turn given rise to a complex process of reform, why has the Regional Council today deemed it necessary to reintroduce them?
An explanatory discussion with the Sardinian people would probably have been necessary to justify, on the practical level of the government of the territory, and years later, the reasons for such a choice. Beyond the various arguments that one might be led to carry out, what appears to emerge is precisely the need to develop an unprecedented paradigm of territorial governance within a Region which, due to its morphological context, has always been complex management. Without prejudice, probably, to the fact that the individual specificities of the Sardinian "hinterland", far from being able to be concretely addressed and resolved individually, will probably have to be managed at a central level, albeit always at a regional level, in order to avoid disparities in treatment which more than resolve would perhaps complicate a context that is already critical on a management level.
And all things considered, with good likelihood, the preparation of careful territorial government programs, it does not seem possible not to take into due consideration the needs and "desires" of an electoral body that awaits important responses in the fields of health and transport, real nodal points in relation to which, whoever among the contenders is able to provide practicable solutions, could gain the upper hand in the outcome of the electoral dispute.
In other words: it does not seem to be so important that the choice of the next candidates for the Presidency of the Sardinia Region is "suggested" by Rome or by the internal party context, as these are perhaps circumstances involving decision-making processes as an end in themselves, but rather that the chosen figures are on both sides suitable and capable of carrying out the function, taking an active part in the implementation of respectively shared programs for the good governance of a Region very rich in terms of potential. As always, Time will be Lord and will offer answers to all the perplexities of the moment. All that remains is to wait.
Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro
