Liguria region, the fate of the council hangs by a thread

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A big question mark has arisen over the future of the centre-right council of the Liguria region, after the governor, Giovanni Toti, was subjected to a house arrest order on charges of corruption and acts contrary to official duties. A As required by article 41 of the regional statute, all the functions of the president have been assumed, pro tempore, by his deputy, the Northern League member Alessandro Piana and the body is quick to underline that the administrative activity continues «without interruption ».

But ordinary administration is one thing, political balances are another. And, faced with a series of requests for resignation coming, as expected, from opposition parties, even in the majority, there are those who do not rule out early elections. A few hours after the news of the precautionary measure issued by the investigating judge, Matteo Rosso, parliamentarian and Ligurian coordinator of Fratelli d’Italia, made it clear that a junta with the president under house arrest is unlikely to last long.

Resignation hypothesis

While expressing “maximum solidarity with the president” and renewing “confidence in the governor”, Rosso recalled that “the elections are scheduled for October 2025. But the hypothesis of early elections in the Region, at this point, cannot be to exclude. And we also need to see the choices that Toti will make; perhaps to defend himself in a more serene way he prefers to resign.”

When the news of the arrest arrived, Rosso continued, «the world fell for us, we had never had sensations of something like this. Everyone does their job, the judiciary has the duty to investigate and the suspect has the right to defend himself.” As regards the administrative activity of the Region, he commented, “Vice President Piana will continue for a certain period, then we’ll see.”

The barrier of the League

Fdi’s position on early elections does not appear to be shared by the League, whose leaders, at least in the first hours of the judicial storm, acted as a barrier to the junta. The deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, recalls that «in Italy and in all civilized countries someone is guilty if convicted in three levels of judgement. An investigation is not enough. I invite Toti to demonstrate that he worked correctly and I hope that the judges quickly give him the opportunity to do so. Resigning would be a surrender, from my point of view, because tomorrow any investigation, any notice of investigation or indictment would lead to the resignation of a mayor or administrator.” And the deputy minister of Infrastructure, Edoardo Rixi, who, at the time, had renounced his candidacy for the presidency of the Region, precisely in favor of Toti, expressed “the firmest solidarity” with the governor.