28 March 2012
Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.
Italy
Regional
elections, false signatures and the mass violation of data protection
as right wing conflict spirals out of control
An
ongoing conflict within the Italian right between Alessandra
Mussolini and her erstwhile party colleagues from Alleanza Nazionale
(AN) resulted in the temporary exclusion of the electoral list
of her party Alternativa Sociale (AS) from the regional election
in the Lazio region, before it was finally readmitted by the
Consiglio di Stato (State Council), a court before which decisions
taken by regional administrative courts can be appealed. The
exclusion was a result of the submission of false signatures
among those required for the party to run in the election. The
governor of the Lazio regional council Francesco Storace (AN)
announced on 12 March 2005 that Mussolini's party would not be
allowed to run, following a ruling by the Rome Court of Appeal
after the candidature had been appealed by acandidate from Storace's
party. AS's electoral platform for last year's European elections
was established in coalition with two other far-right parties,
Roberto Fiore's Forza Nuova (FN) and Adriano Tilgher's Fronte
Sociale Nazionale, and was also joined by Luca Romagnoli's Movimento
Sociale Fiamma Tricolore for the coming regional elections. Polls
have suggested that the list could win up to 5% of votes, and
the run-up to the election had seen attempts by Silvio Berlusconi,
the prime minister, to reach an agreement with Mussolini, an
approach that was forcefully opposed by AN. The decision to exclude
Mussolini's list was followed by an appeal submitted to the Tribunale
Amministrativo Regionale (TAR, regional administrative court),
and by a hunger strike by Mussolini, who claimed that it was
a "non-violent initiative for civil and political rights".
On 18 March, the TAR ruled in favour of upholding the exclusion
of AS from the regional election because the regular conduct
of the elections "would be seriously undermined in the light
of the irregularities that have been ascertained" by the
regional administration, some of which were not denied in the
appeal filed by AS. Eventually, the list was re-admitted on 23
March after a successful appeal against the exclusion to the
Consiglio di Stato, which ruled that the false signatures an
were not "ascertained in the ways established by the law".
Nonetheless, there have been suggestions that an appeal following
the election could result in its annulment as a result of the
fraudulent participation of AS, whose exponents argue that the
fraudulent submission of signatures is widespread in Italian
politics. Fraudulent practices were also found in the collection
of signatures for AS to run in the elections in the Milan province,
from which it was excluded after the 2,800 signatures submitted
in Milan were reportedly found to have been fraudulent by the
Digos (the carabinieri's special operations unit). The short-lived
exclusion of AS in Lazio led to a string of initiatives against
electoral lists accused of contravening legislation on the presentation
of signatures in support, including an appeal by the Verdi -
il sole che ride (left-wing Greens) against the Verdi ecologisti
(Environmental Greens, who support Storace) which may lead to
the exclusion of the latter group from the regional elections.
Illegal searches of city council personal records database
The scandal developed into an institutional clash between the
centre-left run Rome city council and the Lazio regional council,
because it surfaced that workers from the regional council had
unduly accessed the records of the anagrafe (the office which
runs the register of residents, as well as issuing identity cards
and storing related personal records in its database) in Rome.
The Italian data protection ombudsman's authority has reportedly
started an investigation into the incident. The Rome city council
reported that the IT system of the Rome anagrafe was "repeatedly
violated" by the company Laziomatica, "a legal subject
which is an expression of the Lazio regional council"* and
is authorised to access the town council archives exclusively
for the provision of health care services to citizens. City council
officials alleged that 833 personal record checks were carried
out from 4.51 to 7.50 a.m. and from 1.55 to 23.34 p.m. on 11
March, and a further 1,879 checks reportedly took place from
4.54 to 11.04 p.m. on 13 March. The city council presented a
fax which included personal records concerning the actress Ornella
Muti (who denied that she had signed for AS to run) as evidence
that the regional council had run the illegal personal record
checks. Mirko Maceri, the Laziomatica technical director who
eventually admitted to having run the checks on request from
a lawyer who was working on behalf of a candidate in Storace's
list to file an appeal against the AS candidature, said that
he "always acted correctly… following the company norm's
and procedures". Romolo Reboa, the lawyer in question, who
was acting as legal counsel for a candidate in Storace's list,
defended Maceri's actions by arguing that "what he has done
has prevented the deception of citizens". In spite of these
claims of innocence, the Rome prosecutor's office investigating
the case alleged that files from Laziomatica's PCs in the regional
council offices were deleted after claims surfaced concerning
the illegal intrusion into the anagrafe's records, and Maceri
is under investigation for illegally accessing an IT system and
for violating data protection legislation. Francesco Rutelli,
from the Margherita party (part of the centre-left coalition)
spoke of democracy being "in danger", while the DS
leader Piero Fassino called for Storace's resignation.
Mussolini and AS in the EP and Italian parliament
Alessandra Mussolini was elected to the European Parliament in
the elections held on 12-13 June 2004, as part of the far-right
Alternativa Sociale con Alessandra Mussolini election ticket,
which included neo-fascist groups like Roberto Fiore's Forza
Nuova (FN) and Adriano Tilgher's Fronte Sociale Nazionale, receiving
398,036 votes and a 1.2% share of the vote. Mussolini left Alleanza
Nazionale (AN, which is part of the governing right-wing coalition)
after its leader Gianfranco Fini had disowned fascism as an expression
of "absolute evil" during a trip to Israel in November
2003 (see Statewatch vol. 13 no.6), going on to set up her own
party, Liberta d'Azione - Lista Alessandra Mussolini, in time
to take part in the European elections. Mussolini has taken up
her seat in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and is part
of the Justice, Freedom and Security commission, which also includes
Mario Borghezio, a Lega Nord MEP who has a long history of racist
outbursts and xenophobic initiatives nehind him (see Statewatch
vol. 9 no. 1 & no. 2). Mussolini was exultant after the election
results, and regretted that it had been impossible to strike
a deal with another far-right party, Fiamma Tricolore, which
also managed to maintain an MEP in the Strasbourg parliament,
with 0.7% of the vote (236,016 votes, down from 496,030 votes
and a 1.6% share of the vote in 1999). In February 2005, Alternativa
Sociale made its formal appearance in the Italian parliament
after it was joined by Antonio Serena, who was elected as an
MP in the ranks of AN before leaving the party and passing to
the "mixed group" after Fini's visit to Israel in November
2003.
* Laziomatica S.p.A. is the Lazio regional council company for implementing the regional IT system to support the carrying out of institutional duties and functions of the regional public administration.
ANSA 15.1.2005, 9.2.2005; Il manifesto 17-19.3.2005; Corriere
della Sera, 12.3, 19.3, 20.3.2005; Repubblica, 18-22.3.2005;
Laziomatica website: http://www.laziomatica.it/laziomaticaweb/home.shtml
; Alessandra Mussolini's party website: www.libertadiazione.it
; Searchlight, July 2004; Statewatch vol. 13 no. 6.
Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.
Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.