The Municipality of Alghero was sanctioned by Agcom, after the complaint from the municipal councilors Ornella Piras, Raimondo Cacciotto, Pietro Gerolamo Sartore, Gabriella Esposito and Mario Bruno.
The political opponents, in fact, believed that the mayor Mario Conoci, candidate for the regional elections, and his press office, had violated the rule on institutional communication, on the occasion of the announcement of the reclamation of the former Roma camp, which took place on 12 January with a press release containing, in addition to the news, the statements of the mayor of Alghero Mario Conoci.
All of this, in the opinion of the opposition, in violation of the ban on institutional communication, provided for by art. 9 of law 22 February 2000, n. 28.
The Agcom resolution refers to the Constitutional Court, which in sentence no. 502 of 2000, clarified that the ban on public administrations from carrying out communication activities during the electoral campaign is «precisely aimed at avoiding the risk that they could provide [...] a suggestive representation, for electoral purposes, of the administration and its organs."
«What Conoci did – accuse the centre-left councilors – electoral campaign at the expense of the people of Alghero». Agcom therefore orders the post to be removed from the Municipality's website and the news of the sanction to be published.
