Consortium Prepares for Key Election Amid Political Division and Local Reappointments

The consortium is trying again. After the announced failure twenty days ago, Bernardo Penner, the president, has reconvened the plenary assembly for Monday, July 17th, at 6 PM, with the agenda including the appointment of the new president, the determination of the number of assessors and their appointment, as well as the first adjustment of the 2000 budget.

The chances of successfully finding a successor to Penner this time are higher than twenty days ago because in the meantime, the 10 municipalities where voting took place this spring (all those of the C9 except Riva and Arco) have reappointed their respective delegations.

Assembly composition and political dynamics

Therefore, the assembly is new and reflects exactly the results of the latest local electoral consultation. There should be 58 councilors, but there are actually only 52 because the delegations of Riva and Arco are smaller than they legally should be, as is the case with Molina.

In the two larger towns, the opposition, and An in particular, have chosen not to appoint their representatives, as they do not believe in the consortium and are doing everything to accelerate its inevitable end.

The same happened in Molina, where the Insieme group, led by former mayor Angioletta Zecchini, refused to designate their representative.

Future prospects and motivations

Nevertheless, among the 52 full members with a seat in the assembly, it should not be impossible to find the 30 votes needed to elect Penner’s successor.

The reasons to carry on while awaiting an institutional change, announced years ago but never implemented by the province, are rooted in the services provided to the community: territorial assistance, the right to education, waste collection and disposal, and housing are still sectors that the province, out of benevolence, continues to delegate to the intermediate body. Ignoring these responsibilities is impossible.