«This affair aims to overturn, through an administrative procedure, the very essence of the regional government , modifying the electoral result, and therefore the vote expressed by the Sardinian citizens, less than a year after the installation of the council of our majority».
Thus Alessandra Todde, reporting to the statutory session on the case of forfeiture , after having filed the appeal against the injunction order of the Electoral Guarantee Board at the Court of Appeal of Cagliari.
«A measure that does not concern me alone but the entire form of government of the Sardinia Region : the Assessors, the Councilors of the majority and minority and, even more seriously, it concerns all Sardinian citizens, on their inviolable right, as citizens, to vote and to entrust the regional Government that they have democratically and freely elected, with the leadership of Sardinia until 2029 ».
The President of the Region retraced the stages of the forfeiture case, starting from the requests for clarification forwarded by the panel to her certified email address and dating back to the 19th, up to the appeal filed by the lawyers Stefano and Benedetto Ballero, Giuseppe Macciotta and Priamo Siotto on January 27th.
In general, Todde recalled that, as clarified by the Board itself, the two causes provided by law for forfeiture do not exist . Therefore, «in essence, an administrative body has issued a provision where in the absence of any legal motivation, without the legal conditions having occurred, it has requested this Council to initiate a procedure for forfeiture of the President of the Region».
However, he adds, "this measure did have one effect: an unprecedented attack on my person and my institutional role. Local and national press articles declaring me forfeited, calling into question the acts of my Council and the activities of the regional council without even minimally underlining that the measure is definitive following a pronouncement of this Council, which is not a "paper pusher" of a state body."
Again: «In these weeks, we have also witnessed the parade of those who, for vulgar political interest, wanted to start the electoral campaign , passing off as a definitive act an act that is not definitive, so much so that both the judges and the Council have yet to pronounce themselves. Regardless of the effect on the Sardinian citizens whose fate they say they are interested in, whose priorities they have forgotten in the five years that preceded us». Rather, Todde maintains, «we must instead tell the Sardinian citizens that the stability of our institutions is at stake here. Our autonomy is at stake here. Sardinia is at stake here ».
In her speech, the governor explains her reasons as listed in the appeal of over thirty pages filed in recent days. She does not mention, however, the alleged conflict of interest of two members of the panel referred to in the document signed by the four lawyers.
On the other hand, it introduces some new elements. With regard to accountable expenses, Todde emphasizes that «all the documentation of the expenses incurred and the funds received by the electoral committee, including the statement of the account dedicated by the committee in Banca Intesa and the list of Paypal beneficiaries, was attached to the reporting sent by the Committee to the Court of Auditors». This documentation «is not due and however it was attached, for transparency, to my declaration sent to the electoral commission and the expense report was immediately available on the website of the 5 Star Movement in the transparency section» .
The president insists that in her case there is no "accountable expense directly incurred, as has happened for dozens of councilors, elected and non-elected, who have not appointed a proxy and have not had a dedicated current account, have reported with a similar declaration, the files of which have been regularly archived". And, " no expense directly incurred as has already happened in other regions, for regional Presidents of other political affiliations, such as Luca Zaia who for the 2015 election campaign in Veneto declared that he had not incurred expenses or received any contribution since the expenses were incurred directly by his party and his file was regularly archived and no request for forfeiture was prepared ".
After the president, the group leaders of all political forces spoke. "We are holding this meeting because we are a parliament, and we must address issues of depth typical of an assembly that makes laws," began the president of the Democratic Party group Roberto Deriu. In general, he argued, "the Constitutional Court says that the guarantee boards (like the one that issued the injunction order) are not judges, and their decisions are not judgments but administrative acts effective for administrative sanctions." In essence, "an administrative body not capable of establishing the truth. Other bodies establish this. It is up to the jurisdictional bodies. Judges are judges and the guarantee boards are administrative bodies." For this reason, "our election board cannot express an opinion on a forfeiture until it is ascertained by a judge." Deriu also emphasized that the president was not elected as a regional councilor but directly as president of the Region.
The intervention of the FdI group leader Paolo Truzzu was very harsh : «No one wants to distort the election result, we support the primacy of politics, but I have heard little politics here today, and from the president we have had a harangue, statements that are the negation of politics». In any case, he reiterated, «the transparency of elections is one of the cardinal principles of our democratic system», furthermore, «the damage to the image is a consequence of her actions. Now the legislature is already over politically. Maybe justice will save the president, but now the coalition will be led by the party secretariats». In her reply, the president of the Region listed all the things done by the Council since the beginning of the legislature. Because, she said, «this means talking about politics».
Todde also wanted to respond to those who are pushing for his dismissal outside the Sardinian Assembly. "They are the same people who, in the committee for the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, retroactively alter the mechanisms for validating the ballots, with amendments signed by them, causing a legitimately elected parliamentarian to fall in favor of a candidate of their own political affiliation." A passage also on the controversy surrounding his educational qualifications, including that of engineer: "I have nothing to hide. I couldn't say the same about others. In fact, I'm proud of it. It's a promise made to my father, condemned by an incurable disease, and kept a few months before his death. I don't allow anyone to spread mud on these things."
Again: «Those who in this Chamber and outside this Chamber are rooting for a measure that is clearly unfounded, do not understand that they are not doing the damage to Alessandra Todde . If this were just a personal matter, I would limit myself to defending myself in the appropriate contexts and making my arguments there ». Finally, a reference to the possible conflict of powers: «A measure by a state administration, which with an interference in the sphere of powers of our Region, calls for the dismissal of the President of the Region, and with it, the dismissal of an entire Council, thus decreeing the end of a legislature and sending up in smoke the preferences of Sardinian citizens, is not a personal issue. It is not even a political issue, of this or that political group. I would fight the same battle and make the same speech if I were sitting on the opposition benches».