Countdown to the regional elections in Lazio and Lombardy, which will be held on Sunday 12th and Monday 13th February. A first and important test for parties and the government after the September 25 policies, which will involve a total of more than 12 million voters, that is, one in every 5 Italians. On the last Sunday of the election campaign, the center-right united in Rome led the race for candidate Francesco Rocca with an event that brought together on the same stage – that of the Auditorium della Conciliazione – Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (received upon her arrival with a standing ovation standing), the two ministers and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini (for the League) and Antonio Tajani (for Forza Italia) and the political leader of Noi Moderati, Maurizio Lupi. “The last week of the electoral campaign is about to begin, the low blows will intensify, but we are vaccinated, we have taken all the doses. We are not afraid. And I recommend this to Rocca: don’t read anything, don’t be influenced, think with the head and go ahead’, exhorts Meloni, convinced that after ten years of center-left in the government “Lazio can have much more, it was a little behind for the potential it has, it needs a turnaround”. , Silvio Berlusconi, is also optimistic: “We will win the challenge of the regional government. Each one with their ideas and their own story that deserves respect. Forza Italia will be there, and it will be decisive not only in terms of numbers – underlines the Cav in a video message – but also in political terms”. Also because, admits Tajani, “after winning the policies, the coalition wants to win in Lazio as in Lombardy . But I would also like to win well to show that the national government is working well, because it is a vote of confidence not only in Rocca, but also in the center-right government”.
A demonstration similar to the one held in the capital is scheduled for Tuesday, at Teatro Dal Verme, in Milan, in support of outgoing governor Attilio Fontana, who is running for an encore. The exponent of the League ends up under the crossfire of the two opponents Pierfrancesco Majorino and Letizia Moratti for the option of not participating in the direct confrontations on TV (all except the electoral forums). But it is in the so-called ‘useful vote’ that the clash between the center-left candidate and the M5s and the former mayor of Milan, supported by the Third Pole, takes place. The regional elections “are single-round, whoever gets more than one vote wins. The logic of the useful vote prevails, which led the mayor of Milan Beppe Sala to appeal for my support so that the vote is not wasted to win Fontana”, the Pd MEP still insists today. With 40% still undecided, the call for split voting is “smoke and mirrors”, replies the former deputy and Social Security councilor from Fontana, who goes on the counterattack: “Majorino is a candidate to oppose. to govern”.
The leaders of Action and Italia Viva, Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi, in Milan to support Moratti in the ‘last mile’ towards the polls, also reject the logic of useful voting. Sala and Majorino “are repeating exactly the same mistake that Letta made in politics. Spare us the tired refrain in which not even the two believe. They say because they have to say”, Renzi stings upon arriving at the Franco Teatro Parenti. Who then, borrowing a phrase from Shakira’s new hit, also mocks the Democratic Party: “They had a Ferrari with me and Calenda, they exchanged it for a Twingo”. After presenting the differences over taxi licenses, the former Minister of Economic Development praises Moratti for having carried out “an extraordinary campaign”. “The game is wide open” because of the way he managed the Covid emergency, “it is immoral to vote for Fontana, he cannot be voted” Calenda still sinks, questioning himself as “in the place in Italy where there is more culture of work and production” it is still possible to vote for Salvini “who has never worked a day in his life”. However, the leader of the Third Pole reserves the hardest attack for the prime minister with regard to institutional reforms: “Dear Meloni, we offer you this: don’t touch the Presidency of the Republic, which is the only one that works in this country. Without the President of the Republic, national unity disappears. And having to explain this to a semi-fascist nationalist is depressing.” It was just a joke, obviously.”
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
