La Gazzetta di Messelia

Alderisi Withdraws Amid Increased Calls to Draft D’Ambrosio
Marta Pezzaloni

Messelia. Guido Alderisi has withdrawn from the contest to succeed First Councillor Marco Valerio after a Senate vote, this morning, placed in third place, after Vincenzo Cattaneo and Giacomo Bertucci, the latter being the symbolic candidate put forward by a sector of the Opposition.

Mr Alderisi delivered a press conference yesterday shortly after 11AM at the Rizzi Institute, where he participates as a Senior Fellow, to announce that the Senate had sent a “clear message” about its confidence in his ability to lead and that he would “graciously and willingly” act on it. He wished good luck to the two remaining candidates, and while he stopped short of formally endorsing Elena D’Ambrosio, he did emphasise that the First Councillor needed the full confidence of the Senate, and expressed doubts that the incumbent candidates would obtain it.

This leaves Mr Cattaneo and Mr Bertucci as the sole remaining candidates for First Councillor. Mr Cattaneo remains in first place, having received 162 votes from a variety of parties, ranging from the Social Progress Party to the Merchant Rights Association, though all from the Southern and Eastern Realms. Mr Alderisi, in turn, received 23 votes from the Social Progress Party and the Alliance for Sustainable Development, all from the more progressive and millennial-dominated Northern and Central Realms.

Votes obtained by each candidate in the latest Senate vote

Mr Bertucci placed in second place, though distant from Mr Cattaneo. He received 27 votes, from Forward and the Merchant Rights Association, in the latter case only from senators representing the Eastern Realms. In spite of his vote count, and the fact that he did not manage to unify the Opposition, he has refused to step aside, and vowed to keep contesting the election.

Senator Mario Salucci, widely seen as the main Opposition figure in the Senate explained his vote against all candidates by saying that “Sartoria needs a candidate with integrity, a fresh face and the ability to navigate through the political scene” and admitting that he failed to see such characteristics in any of the three candidates. In addition to Mr Salucci, 195 other senators from both the Green Coalition and the Opposition, voted against all three candidates.

Senator Salucci is one of a number of senators from various parties who are said to support the potential candidacy of Elena D’Ambrosio. According to sources close to his office, Senator Salucci has already met with Ms D’Ambrosio, along with other senators, and urged her to oversee the transition until the 2018 Senate Election, where a new majority coalition could be formed.