Claudio Zali leaves the Council of State today after thirteen years

Claudio Zali, a member of Ticino's Council of State for the Lega dei Ticinesi, ends his government mandate today, Wednesday. For months he had already stopped running anything: leadership of the Department of Territory and the presidency of the executive were taken from him over the summer, after two criminal investigations were opened against him. Zali has always maintained his innocence and continues to reject any responsibility.

On September 1st, the Council of State asked him to resign immediately. Zali refused, and the following day he was also stripped of the remaining part of his department. Since then he has led no sector at all. He leaves government as a councillor but not as a department head: he was also meant to finish the legislature as president, a role that instead passed to Marina Carobbio Guscetti on July 29th. It was one of many shifts of responsibility that, over the past two years, have reshuffled the departments among the five councillors, to the point that the overlaps forced the removal of photographs from the homepage of the cantonal portal.

Zali's last public appearance was on June 23rd, when he answered RSI's questions about the case of the fourteen-year-old son of an acquaintance, held in the Farera prison. On the same day, the Gran Consiglio decided to exercise oversight over the matter. Since then, Zali has only spoken through two written statements, in which he rejects any criminal responsibility. Both followed separate investigations opened by the judiciary for alleged abuse of authority and attempted coercion: the first linked to the minor's case, the second to alleged offences against sexual integrity, after a report by a woman, who has since died, who in July had posted online recordings of phone calls with him made without his knowledge. Since then there have been no public appearances, and since September 2nd Zali has not even attended government meetings.

A career that began in the judiciary

Zali spent much of his life working for the state: twenty years in the judiciary and thirteen in government, alongside teaching law in a few Ticino schools. His first step into politics came in 2004, on the communal council of Bioggio, for a single term. In 2013 the Lega chose him to succeed Michele Barra, who had died shortly before: Zali thus entered government without going through an election, but was confirmed with strong support at his first opportunity.

At the head of the Department of Territory, he dealt with mobility and launched projects that will be completed even without him, such as the Tram Treno network in the Lugano area and the covering of the motorway at Airolo. He also worked quietly for the reconstruction of the Visletto bridge in Vallemaggia, damaged by the 2024 flood.

As the official in charge of the environment, he also clashed within his own camp, particularly over wolf management, as well as with the business community over the connection tax and the protection of waterways from hydroelectric plants. Also unresolved is the dispute with the Lugano navigation company over the management of lines on Lake Verbano. In trying to redistribute departments with party colleague Norman Gobbi, Zali, a former magistrate, also took on Ticino's justice system. He leaves several weighty dossiers unresolved: the regional child and adult protection authorities, the closure of district courts in peripheral areas, the justice centre in Lugano, and the reform of the system for electing magistrates.