Opposition against FdI: "It limits the freedom to vote in the referendum within the same majority"

The referendum vote enters the council debate forcefully. The opposition, in a statement, accuses the Brothers of Italy group of "instrumental and political use" of the positions expressed or not on the upcoming referendum on justice. "What happened in the Council is serious: a political constraint emerges regarding the referendum that limits freedom of vote - reads the statement from the Pd, Oso, Avs, M5s, and mixed groups - Brothers of Italy has chosen to vote against all the resolutions, 

directly hitting concrete interests of the city: against the maintenance of the Uditore Park; against the immediate repurposing of the Cassarà Park; against the enhancement of the Villa Deliella area, despite the constraint imposed by its own regional cultural assessor; against the use of lifeguards from the municipal pool, now closed, to oversee the free beach of Mondello; against guarantees for workers of the Italian-Belgian company at risk of unemployment.

Not for the merit of the contents, but solely due to the presence among the signatories of members of the majority who have expressed positions contrary to the yes vote in the referendum. A choice that marks a worrying precedent and confirms, if there was ever a need for confirmation, that we are not facing a technical referendum, but a strongly political vote.

It is very serious that democratic debate is bent to such rigid alignment logics, to the point of determining a true mandate constraint: those who belong to the majority are effectively forced to align, regardless of their own convictions, under penalty of exclusion or political delegitimization.

In a majority already marked by deep divisions, misunderstandings, and operational difficulties, this attitude risks further aggravating the institutional paralysis, compressing the freedom of thought and vote of individual councilors.

We find it unacceptable that one arrives at using, even implicitly, a ‘inside or outside’ logic from the Administration to impose a political line on such a delicate issue. It is a worrying signal for the quality of democracy and for the respect of local institutions.

The freedom to vote is neither a detail nor a negotiable variable: it is a fundamental principle, an indispensable democratic safeguard that cannot be sacrificed to belonging logics or top-down impositions. For this reason, we believe it is even more evident how behind this referendum a much broader political game is at play, which adds to the already established reasons for our no vote. We will continue - the note concludes - to defend freedom of expression and voting within the City Council and in the city, convinced that democracy is based on individual responsibility, pluralism, and respect for institutions.