“Bring us the ballot and we’ll take care of it.” This is how (Italian) elections are falsified abroad

Shocking telephone call from Liège patronage: “Leave the envelope and we’ll take care of it”
Others instead canvass (with public funds) the PD: “Carozza, Garavini and Cerasani”

The buying and selling of votes is not the only way to falsify elections abroad. With a system where you just have to mail your own ballot, there are numerous scams. A key role the patrons take care of in the electoral campaign of candidates in the European district. It concerns frameworks present in a widespread manner in all European countries and not only, they are financed with public money through a specific fund at the social security offices but are handled by the mayors and associations: the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labor), rather than the ACLI (Christian Association of Italian Workers) or the CISL (Italian Workers’ Trade Union). Their job is to conduct activity and support Italian citizens. There are so many people, above all the elderly, especially overseas, who rely on them for assistance with disparate bureaucratic practices. And all of these citizens are usually registered in the institutions’ databases. Because of this the patrons represent an important source of votes and are sometimes used as electoral propaganda centers. This is an illegal practice, inasmuch as using public funds for objectives different from the ones the money was earmarked for (in this case canvass for parties or people) is a crime.

During the last few days of the election campaign we made some telephone calls to some patronages of Belgium (which you can listen to in the video above), pretending to be a somewhat naïve immigrant looking for a suggestion for whom to vote. In one situation, the one at the Inas-Cisl patronage of Liège, a Belgian city with a very large population of Italians, the answer to our request for ‘help’ was as easy as it was disconcerting. After some initial hesitation the woman on the phone told us: “Bring us the envelope here, leave it with us and we will do everything.” But how, I have to bring the electoral ballot to you?” we asked, “No, no, the entire envelope complete as you received it, then someone who usually handles these things will come and we will take care of it.” Well, there actually would be a problem – and a serious one: to vote for someone else is a crime; and if that weren’t enough, it’s a crime that takes place in an organization that depends on the Italian government.

It’s clear one cannot generalize and certainly the majority of patrons behave fairly and legally, because calling those in Belgium out of all of them (or almost) we received the same answer: “We cannot canvass for elections.” Certainly it is not possible to say how many would have replied this way because they are honest, and how many because they simply didn’t trust speaking with an unknown on the telephone about certain things. The fact is that at least in 2 cases we received clear and precise indications on which party and candidate to vote for. Yes because the Tremaglia law (Italians’ rights) for overseas voting allows, differently from the Porcellum (modified the Italian electoral system), to choose the 12 deputies and 6 senators with preference and without a blocked list.

At the INCA (which depends on CGIL – Italian workers’ rights) patronage in Liège as well, to the question ‘I wanted to know if you support a specific candidate,’ the answer was quick and clear: “We support PD, Carozza for the Senate and Garavini and Cerasani for the House.” The same reply from the patronage Inca of La Louvière, another city with a high percentage of Italians, “PD, Carozza, Garavini and Cerasani.” Here they actually even spelled it for us “Carozza, with an R and 2 Z’s” in case we made a mistake voting. But then when we asked if these were the patronage’s candidates and if they could help us vote they replied: “No, no, I am suggesting these to you personally; the patronage cannot – after you must decide.” It is unexplainable why this employee felt he had the right to give us “suggestions” on who to vote for (even if “personally”) since we called the institute and obviously not his house.

We cannot say if these candidates are at least knowledgeable of the irregular propaganda that is carried out in their name. What we can say though is that 2 of them know the patronage world very well. Laura Garavini, exiting MP of the PD was recently re-elected, the most voted with a 37,813 preference in the European district, as she herself explains on her website; in 2000 she became Head of Patronage in Berlin and in 2004 also Director of Uim, Union of Italians in the World. Elio Carozza on the other hand, was president of INCA Belgium from 2001 to December 2012, when he ran in the elections. This is the same INCA that at least 2 times recommended his name, going so far as to spell it.

Alfonso Bianchi