Bari, what's going on in the PD between enquiries and election candidacies? In Turin Dda asks for Gallo to be put under house arrest

Turin's DDA has lodged an appeal against the refusal of the gip to place under house arrest Salvatore Gallo, 85, the former Sitaf manager investigated in a strand of Echidna, the Ros Carabinieri operation against 'ndrangheta infiltration in Piedmont. Gallo is not involved in organised crime cases: he is accused of embezzlement. The court of re-examination will now decide. The documents of the investigation focus on episodes in which Gallo dispensed or promised favours in exchange for votes for some PD candidates in the 2021 local elections.

The intertwining of politics and business, which has also emerged from the investigations in Puglia, with the spectre of bought votes and rigged elections, has put the PD to the test, two months before the European and regional elections in June. The next few days will be decisive in the match for the lists. In the meantime, there is no shortage of those in the party, such as the deputy Andrea Orlando, who strongly calls for a reform and a greater and more capillary selection of the ruling class. At every level.

The Bari judiciary's investigation continues into the risk of vote buying for the upcoming municipal and European elections. A danger that is highlighted in the papers of the investigation that led to eight arrests and two residence bans on 4 April, on charges of criminal conspiracy aimed at electoral bribery for the local elections in Triggiano and Grumo Appula. Among those under investigation for electoral bribery is the councillor for Transport of the Apulia Region, Anita Maurodinoia , a share of the PD, who has resigned. The investigation involves, among others, the husband of the former councillor Sandro Cataldo, and the mayor of Triggiano (suspended by the prefect) Antonio Donatelli, both under house arrest, who will be interrogated on Monday 8 April by the gip. A system to which Maurodinoia was no stranger, who took part - according to the prosecution - in the two criminal associations aimed at electoral corruption in the 26 May 2019 local elections (mayor and city council of Bari) and the 20 and 21 September 2020 local elections (mayor and city council of Grumo Appula, president and regional council). The investigation into the alleged vote-for-trade, the third in a few months, convinced the leader of M5s Giuseppe Conte and candidate Michele Laforgia that there were no longer conditions to resort to primaries to choose the candidate of the so-called "wide field" with the PD. A backward step that has ignited the Pd-MoVimento clash just when it seemed that Bari could be the laboratory for a political experiment: the Pentastellati had never agreed to confront each other in the primaries, the Apulian one would be the first time.

After the 'Bari case' that led to the rift between Conte and the Pd secretary Elly Schlein, in Piedmont, Raffaelle Gallo, the son of Salvatore Gallo, the former Sitaf manager investigated for extortion, embezzlement and violation of electoral regulations, has resigned. Gallo jr, an exponent of the Bonaccini area who had been designated as the main candidate for the next regional elections on 8 and 9 June, left his position in the regional council and withdrew his candidature. In Piedmont, the judicial earthquake triggered by the Echidna investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, on the 'ndrangheta's interests on the Turin-Bardonecchia motorway, has led to the opening of a new front in the political battle between the faction headed by Stefano Bonaccini and the one linked to Schlein. Raffaele Gallo's step back was in the air after his 83-year-old father Salvatore, considered a strong man within the party, was entered in the register of suspects, particularly in moving votes and securing a large number of membership cards. The former manager of Sitaf, the A32 motorway concessionaire, is accused of electoral bribery, extortion and embezzlement. Gallo Jr, on the other hand, is not involved in the investigation. The decision to withdraw was taken after a conversation with the regional secretary Domenico Rossi, who in the past few hours, in addition to asking the internal guarantee commission to assess the behaviour of Salvatore Gallo, had hinted at the hypothesis of reopening some discussions on the Turin list. Now, after the hard blow suffered by the Bonaccini area, the ball passes into the hands of the supporters of the motion of the national secretary Elly Schlein, who are ready to present the name of Nadia Conticelli, regional president of the party, as well as group leader at Palazzo Civico, to fill the void left at the top of the list. But the Bonaccinians do not want to remain at the window. The phones are hot these hours and authoritative sources speak of a race to find someone to replace Gallo within a few days. Better if a woman, such as the councillor for culture of the municipality of Moncalieri Laura Pompeo. Or a name that does not necessarily belong to the party For this reason, they are returning to look in the sphere of civil society. An idea already touched upon when the PD and M5s sat down at a table to discuss alliances and common projects. A century seems to have passed since then: the Five Star also chose to run alone in Piedmont by nominating Sarah Disabato.

Meanwhile, in view of the forthcoming elections, the PD has made it known that it already has countermeasures against these cases in the pipeline. Countermeasures that could start from Campania. Here, in fact, the Dem senator and Regional Commissioner of the party, Antonio Misiani, has developed, together with the provincial secretaries, a new 'Code of Self-Regulation' for candidates that 'could very well be extended everywhere', adapted to each regional and municipal reality. And which will be made official for the first time in the next few hours at a party meeting in Campania. It is a package of measures that nails the candidate to the obligation of transparency and morality. First of all, whoever wants to represent the party in the various institutions will have to provide their criminal record certificate. Then, he/she will have to sign a self-declaration in which he/she undertakes to denounce any phenomena of vote conditioning; episodes of vote exchange; intimidation during the electoral campaign and attempts at corruption or bribery during the elective or administrative mandate. Among the various commitments that Democratic candidates are asked to make are to sign the 'code of ethics' and to declare that they are not in a situation of ineligibility with respect to the 'anti-mafia self-regulation code'.