The tears of Ticino and the chasm in the Lega

With the death of Marco Borradori another void has been created in the Lega, an unquantifiable one. The party-motion founded thirty years ago by Giuliano Bignasca is continuing to lose members, including important figures such as Marco Borradori, the most loved politician in Ticino and popularly elected as no other in the past. It was thought that the stroke of brilliance of Borradori was eternal and that in some ways he was politically immortal, thanks to his natural ability to re-invent himself and to become Mr. Mayor in Lugano after an 18-year career in Bellinzona. A period of time that can consume and exhaust any modern-day State Councillor: some have left politics to pursue different paths or to return to their earlier profession. But this course was not suitable for him, an enthusiast, a gentleman politician by profession, an electoral tank who accepted to get involved in Lugano where in 2013 he made a bang by ousting Giorgio Giudici. But then in the city on Lake Lugano he found more mountains to scale rather than empty nets to make: from the situation of the disastrous city accounts, which he was confronted with at Palazzo Civico on his arrival. He had left the State Council, with its perpetual problem of management deficits, confident of arriving in a strong city, in the city of Lugano that until recently had gone to the Government to speak up and dictate the law to the Canton, but the situation had changed.

The huge heart of a man with an authentic soul no longer beats; these words are not just circumstantial. It is confirmed by the deep emotion felt by the citizens of Ticino who have crossed any party or ideological fence to pay homage with their thoughts and tears to a true gentleman, before becoming an esteemed politician. The death of Borradori leaves a chasm in the Lega which after the summer has promised to concretely bend on the organization of its summit, an operation that today appears somewhat vague and which is further complicated by Borradori’s death, even if he would never have wanted or desired to participate in the mechanisms of Via Monte Boglia, always maintaining his independence in terms of action and judgment. Primarily on matters to do with the Dwarf Party and the Lega. He would never have accepted positions in the Lega of the future, since he was and remained the standard-bearer of the motion, a respected and considered person regardless of the insignia on his jacket. With Marco Borradori, there goes another original Lega member, a style in which there are no longer any representatives. This situation was illustrated by the front page of Il Mattino a few months ago, which recalled the many Leghists who had passed away over the years. While those «of the first hour» (as they have always loved to call them in Via Monte Boglia) are no more, we can only wonder who are (and what is their weight) the ones of the second or third hour. In reality, with the obvious exception of Norman Gobbi (an iron Leghista), his fellow member Claudio Zali (a Leghista of few words) and some municipal members, one wonders what kind of future a party can have that does not forge and discover talents to look to the future with both optimism and farsightedness. Perhaps speaking of talents, considering the flatness we see in the political world in general, is a real exaggeration, but the meaning is clear and, at the same time, is politically dramatic for the Lega. A party that fails to prepare its future, is bound, sooner or later, not to have a future.

The departure of Borradori for the Lega is not a «simple» loss in Lugano (and in the city on the Ceresio a lot will have to be redefined or reinvented), but it is a blow at all levels, first of all at cantonal level, since the next electoral appointment will be in the spring of 2023 to redefine the Council of State and the balance of power in Parliament. The UDC cradles dreams of glory, now that the door of the Lugano City Hall is wide open, the FDP on the other hand aspires to take revenge, in the light of the defeat of ten years ago. Borradori was the guaranteed second hand and the loyal one, everything he did, from the most official to the most creative, carried water to the leghist mill.

Ticino will miss the man with the friendly smile and the ability, like no other modern politician in Ticino, to capture consensus even if he started from distant positions. The Lega will miss a figure who proved to be unique and incomparable: the Nano and Borradori were, and have been, the Lega. Their political legacy seems too heavy for anyone. Leghisti or not, all that remains for all of us today are tears in this moment of deep collective discomfort.