Buying votes for 50 euros, bribes and links to the mafia: the incredible scandal that destroys the opposition in Italy

The clash between the Democratic Party and the leader of the 5 Star Movement, the former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, breaks the alliance that the opposition had was being formed in Italy between the two centre-left forces which, together, they collect 34% of the votes.

The break largely consolidates the center-right alliance in power, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni He is already making long-term plans.

The breakdown of the alliance between the two large centre-left formations quickly entered political history, becoming a traumatic event of enormous proportions.

The crisis was caused by the surprise announcement by former Prime Minister Conte that his 5 Star party would vote in the upcoming local elections in the south of Bari. only for its candidates.

A well-oiled system of vote buying and corruption

A crisis of so many dimensions strikes first Democratic Party leader Elly Schleinbecause it originates in the discovery of a desolate landscape vote buying, corruption and other practices who thought they were distant within the PD, formed ten years ago between the remnants of the communist party, a part of the socialists and other smaller forces.

Even more serious is that investigations and arrests They enlightened the committed people of the PD in dealings with gangsters and in managing negotiations with motorway tenders.

At the center of judicial and police investigations is “From south to center”as they call the machine to gain votes illegally Alessandro Cataldo, “Sandrino” for friends and supporters. Husband of regional councilor Anta Maurodinoia who resigned from her position in the Puglia Region.

According to the judicial accusation, Cataldo had created it a huge database with potential voters and others already corrupt.

Voters were offered 50 euros for votes and jobs. Also the “exchange vote”, What is this crime called in Italy included shopping vouchers or the payment of gas, electricity and telephone bills.

To the voters bought They had to follow formulas to verify that they had respected the agreement. Fill out the ballot papers in a special way, For example. If four family members got together 200 euros were paid and the obligation to participate in party meetings for a fee. It was paid after the vote.

The curious thing is that a system has been discovered that was born in center-right partiesin particular the Christian Democrats, which governed Italy for half a century.

In the municipality of Triggiano, in the province of Bari, crimes were committed all kinds of mischief up to vote buying and other crimes There were thirteen prisoners and the scandal.

The exponents of the PD in Italy are protesting against a very difficult situation for the Democratic Party, which today holds 19% of the votes, second behind the 27% of Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, at the head of a successful government coalition with the former party of the late Silvio Berlusconi and the populists of Matteo Salvini’s League, with 8% of the votes each. Conte’s 5 Star Movement recorded 17.5%, very close to the Democratic Party.

Another scandal in Turin

The other pole of the scandal broke out in recent days in Piedmont. especially in its elegant capital, Turin.

The leader of the PD parliamentary group, Raffaelle Gallo, announced her resignation in dramatic terms: “To protect my children and my wife and with a sense of responsibility and respect for the PD, I am withdrawing my candidacy for the June elections”. He said. .

What had happened? The news is that his father, Salvatore “Sasa” Gallo, 85 years old, former socialist leader, now leader of the Democratic Party, is investigated for extortion, embezzlement, violation of electoral regulations, in a major justice investigation. Gallo senior is also under investigation for infiltration of the ‘Calabrian Ndrangheta’. the largest and most dangerous Italian mafia.

Gallo Jr. explained his “total extraneousness” to these behaviors, in particular his closeness to the ‘Ndrangheta. «I am leaving my mandate and also the role of president of the democratic group in the Piedmont Regional Council».

Gallo addressed a final farewell to Gianna Pentenero, the Piedmontese democratic leader who now bears the burden of being a candidate for the presidency of the Piedmont Region andIn the regional elections of 8 and 9 June.

Another judicial investigation for electoral corruption shakes Piedmontese politics and affects the general balance. At the center again Salvatore Gallo, the old socialist leader who passed with all his tricks to the Democratic Party.

They investigate him for exchange votes for “their” candidates, three in the city council and five in various electoral districts, all questioned by justice. for the intervention of Roberto Fantini, linked to Gallo, who had “helped” companies belonging to ‘Ndrangheta figures in motorway contracts.

The scandal is of such proportions that the leader of the PD, Elly Schlein, she may be forced to resign. There’s no doubt about that She knew nothing, but her innocence doesn’t save her because it shows that he did not take care of the internal issues of the second party in Italy and will suffer the consequences harshly.