Liguria, storm over Morra’s words on Bucci: “He is cancer patient, he may not finish his mandate”. Meloni: “Unacceptable”. And Salvini pretends the case comes from the left

The health conditions of the centre-right candidate for governor in Liguria, the mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci– which the melanoma for which he is still being treated today had initially led to rejecting the candidacy proposal – burst onto the electoral campaign of the next Regional elections. What brought them back to the center of the debate, and made it a case that turned into a wave of controversy throughout the day, were the words of the candidate for president of the independent United for the Constitution list, the former senator Grillino Nicola Morratoday the face of the area that brings together some of the souls of the former anti-government front born during the Draghi government, the first to leave the M5s. “Ligurian voters must be aware that they are voting for a sick person who may not finish his mandate,” he said in an interview with Il Foglio. Triggering indignant reactions from representatives of all political forces, including the prime minister.

If Bucci himself has made it known that he is “very well”, indeed relaunching on the electoral terrain (“it’s true, these are things that don’t please me, but I’m much more sorry, it makes me vomit and feel sick to see all the lies of the left and its candidate Orlando, who do nothing but tell lies about what we are doing and what the past was”), from Palazzo Chigi she spoke Giorgia Meloni. “Sometimes, unfortunately, the political debate descends to unacceptable levels – the Prime Minister writes on social media – However, it is essential to reiterate that a person’s health should never be exploited. Illness does not limit the value and capacity of those who , like Marco Bucci, has already proven to be an excellent and passionate administrator. I am sure that, if elected, he will be a great president of the Region.”

The first to distance himself from Morra’s unfortunate exit in the morning was Bucci’s first opponent, the presidential candidate of the progressive front Andrea Orlando (“I have not read Morra’s words, but I think it is a theme that concerns personal and intimate evaluations which the electoral campaign must never enter”). The issue of the health of the mayor candidate for governor had constituted one of the main doubts on the right about Bucci’s “gamble” in the days of his candidacy, but it immediately disappeared from the electoral dispute. “It cannot be a topic of political conflict”, he cut himself short on the left in the excited hours of Bucci’s investiture, in the end, it was today’s controversy.

“If these are the arguments of the left… So cancer patients must stop living, working, fighting? Vomiting and shameful”, he tweets Matteo Salvinipretending not to know about the race strictly in competition with Morra’s centre-left. “Shame. Topics such as diseases, life and dignity of people should not find space in the electoral campaign”, writes the Minister for Reforms, Elisabetta Casellati. “Morra’s is yet another insult to all cancer patients, extraordinary people who with courage and determination face their daily obstacles accompanied by doctors,” he adds from Forza Italia Licia Ronzulli. “It is vile and ignoble to try to win elections with these means – comments the Melonian praetorian Giovanni Donzelli – The Ligurians will bury these infamous jinxes with an avalanche of consensus for Bucci who will govern the Region with energy for the next 10 years”.

“To err is human. Morra, however, perseveres in her looting. The human one, much worse than the political one – he comments Francesco BruzzoneNorthern League deputy elected in Liguria, where the outcry in defense of Bucci came from all the parties on the front – After having uttered nauseating phrases about Jole Santelli, today he attacks Bucci for the disease with which, with dignity and determination, the mayor of Genoa is fighting. A horrifying cynicism, an indecent moral weakness. Sciascia made a distinction between men, little men and quacks. Morra’s words are less of this last category.”

No stranger to similar fuss, actually, he ended up at the center of a similar fuss in 2020 for having warned about the health conditions of Jole Santellipresident of Calabria who worsened and died during his mandate, four years ago, Morra explained “He said it: he has a metastatic tumor, which you can’t joke with. Even if I see him as toned in this election campaign.” And not even after the avalanche of indignation over his exit did he actually turn back.

“To the explicit (and unwelcome) question about what I thought about the candidacy of a person subject to oncological treatments, I replied that Mayor Bucci did a good job in always informing citizens about their state of health, because citizens must be informed – we read in the note from the former senator of the M5s – The decontextualisation and exploitation carried out by the newspaper Il Foglio, followed by the vulgar accusations of Salvini and other representatives of the League as well as other parties, must be taken for what they are: electoral campaign forcing, particularly discrediting for those who have always intended to defend the health of citizens from the destruction of public health by both the center-right and the center-left. For this reason I reserve any possible legal action.”

“Meloni and Salvini are outraged by Morra’s words who did nothing but reiterate what Bucci himself had already said: the state of health of a public man is not just a private matter – he defends him Mattia Cruciolianother former Grillino senator and soul of the list in Genoa – What is instead “vomiting” and “unacceptable” is the continuous attack on public health by the center-right in favor of the interests of large private groups”.

“We wish Morra to carry out his electoral campaign away in the best possible way, perhaps talking about electoral programs and local problems – Paola and Roberta Santelli, Jole’s sisters also intervened in the debate – in order to avoid talking of Jole again in such an insensitive and inappropriate way, and above all to reiterate a disrespectful thought that affects all cancer patients and their families”.