15 April 2008

Elections, the day after

15 April 2008. The day after the elections. In the name of Italia dei Valori and for me personally, I’d like to thank all who have voted for us, all those who have engaged with us, all the Italians who went to vote, because I believe that it is an essential requirement for democracy, that in the end it is up to the citizen to decide which party has to represent him in Parliament. It would be good if he could also choose which person he wants to represent him in Parliament. This election law has made that not possible, but we of Italia dei Valori have been vigilant in creating the lists. We don’t have people with questionable merits. A brief analysis of the result. For Italia dei Valori, there’s no doubt that it went very well. We have a result that is doubled, and in many cases tripled and done even better. We have 29 deputies and 14 senators elected. Twenty eight deputies in Italy and one deputy from abroad. We will be a team of forty three parliamentarians present in Parliament.
Never before has it been so necessary that Italia dei Valori, with its identity and its parliamentarians, should be vigilant and watchful in Parliament, to once more make sure that “ad personam” laws and government roles are not used for the exploitation of personal interests and activities that demonstrate a conflict of interests. Never before has it been so necessary to have freedom of information, information that is independent and transparent to stop the homologation of information itself, given that most of the public and the private media are in the hands of a single man. Never before has it been so necessary to watch out for waste and the non-transparent and partial use of public funds. Let it be clear, we respect the vote of the Italians. Italians have made a choice. I believe that the choice of the Berlusconi government is a choice that will not lead to positive solutions for the whole country, but if this is the will of the Italians, or of the majority of them, those of us who have been elected to Parliament have the duty to respect that but at the same time, we have the duty to offer an alternative.
We are not going to present a preconceived opposition, one that needs to say “no” even if something good is done, but we want to see that it is really good for the Italians and that it isn’t a rip-off.
Here, on this blog, you will find the list of our parliamentarians, their first and second names, and whether they are in the Lower or Upper House. You can have a dialogue with each one of them.
I am proud that we have been successful in such a tough test, with success for the party and for me personally. And it is also positive that out of the 42 parties that there were before the elections, there are now 5 or 6 inside the institutions. We want to have a dialogue with all the civil society that does not recognise itself in the other parties and perhaps not even in our party, but who can anyway find someone to engage with in our party. We want to dialogue with that part of the electorate who voted for other parties that are now outside Parliament and that need to be represented. We definitely want to be on the side of the most vulnerable, but always on the side of the rule of law. This is why, today, while expressing satisfaction for the results of the party I’m also expressing a worry for what could be a government model that is to be put in place. But I will get close to this experience, in opposition, with the serenity of mind of one who has had the strength from you to tackle the draft laws, the measures that will be taken on each occasion, and in this sense, to try to act in the public interest. I want to continue to have a dialogue with you through the Internet, because, as you know, this seems to me to be, or risks being the only independent channel of communication. I will keep you constantly up to date and with the parliamentarians of Italia dei Valori, we will keep in high regard the sense of ethics of the institutions in Parliament.

Thank you.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics