The return of Totò Cuffaro and his 'control' over votes agitates the Centre

The return of Totò Cuffaro stirs the waters of the Roman parties ahead of the European elections on 8 and 9 June. The secretary of the Christian Democrats, definitively sentenced to seven years for aggravated aiding and abetting the mafia, four years and 11 months served in a Rebibbia cell ("1,768 days" is the title of the docufilm that tells his story), missions as a volunteer doctor in Burundi, had returned to the scene amidst controversy at the end of 2020 with the re-launch of the DC and with his rehabilitation thanks to the extinction of his perpetual ban from public office decided by the Court of Surveillance of Palermo.

He is now in the field to weave alliances ahead of the June vote. Cuffaro had shaken hands with Matteo Renzi assuring the leader of Italia viva of his willingness to participate in the Centre's project. The agreement between the renziani and +Eu for the 'United States of Europe' list, however, has wrecked the agreement (which for Iv never actually existed). A failure that does not discourage the former governor of Sicily who is on a trip to Rome: he met separately with Lega, Udc and Noi Moderati. The most intriguing political prospect for the Christian Democrats would be that of a consolidated relationship with Lorenzo Cesa's Udc. "I proposed to them to re-found the old DC, with the crusader shield. I was told that the idea of getting back together was a hypothesis they shared,' Cuffaro said.

Swelling the controversy were the latest statements by the former Sicilian president (he was the first governor elected by the people with over one and a half million votes): 'With the last regional election, two years ago, we moved 140,000 voters,' Cuffaro said in an interview with Riformista. 'Now,' he added, 'we expect to move 250,000 votes in Sicily.

Immediate reactions. 'But is it possible that Cuffaro, back in the limelight after being in prison for aiding and abetting mafiosi, can claim to control 140,000 votes with impunity. How does he control them? By means of whom or what?", the lunge of Action leader Carlo Calenda on social media, to which Cuffaro's counter-offensive was not long in coming: "Calenda, besides being an insult, is also a liar or does not know how to read.

Having failed in his commitment to no longer engage in politics, Cuffaro accompanied the rebirth of the White Whale. By October 2021, his DC had entered three municipal councils, including the symbolic one in Caltagirone, where Don Sturzo's Ppi was born. A revenge against those who had snubbed him, if not almost mocked him, on the eve of the administrative round. Then came the support for Roberto Lagalla's candidature for mayor of Palermo with his entry into the city council. In 2022 the further leap with the return of the Scudocrociato to the Sicilian Assembly with five deputies.