Before the polls stopped, the outcome of the next regional elections (voting Sunday and Monday) in Lazio and Lombardy was unequivocal: a major victory for the centre-right is approaching. Even if there was no certainty by Monday afternoon, a flat election campaign without a ringing shouldn’t have changed the cards on the table at the last moment. The centre-right is largely led in both regions: ahead of the Pd plus M5 coalition in Lombardy and the Pd plus Third Pole coalition in Lazio. The questions are therefore more about engagement than outcome. How many Italians will vote? These regional ones are minor policies, you vote in the political and economic capital of Italy.
It is feared that abstention will be even higher than usual because of a growing discontent over the years, which this time may affect the left more than usual. Suffice it to say that the Democratic Party’s head is elsewhere and is at historic lows at the polls, in the midst of an internal conflict and lacking a leader in a tight saddle, given the primaries on the horizon. The election campaign lacked private flashes everywhere (and one notes that the fact that the last week of the campaign coincided with the Sanremo Festival did nothing but divert public and media attention even more from the election assignment in general).
Just over 70 percent of those eligible voted for the latest policies in Lombardy. In Lazio, 64 percent. In Lombardy, turnout at the 2018 Regionals was just over 73 percent, instead rising to over 76 percent in 2013. He voted 66 percent in the 2018 regionals in Lazio, 72 percent in 2013, and just 60 percent in 2010 (when Polverini won). This time the feeling is that new lows can be reached. Everyone is betting on a lower number than they did on Sunday and Monday in the past.
The old foxes of politics warn: The Brothers of Italy, largely nationally first party, should hope to win compared to the allies of Lega and Forza Italia, but not win big. If in “their” Lombardy Salvini drops to 10 percent and Berlusconi to 6 percent (these are the most negative hypotheses), fibrillation in the majority of government is inevitable and its consequences are unpredictable. The last thing Meloni needs today is a Salvini poking her through all the files every day. A crippled Salvini could become a serious problem for the government. An entire year’s campaign for Europe 2024, the Northern League’s next major election appointment, could wear out Italy’s Brothers.
Ironically, a Melon victory might instead “work” for the main opposition party until recently (now M5 is ahead of Pd in the polls): but a blow to Salvini and Berlusconi in the polls, on the other hand, simplifies the overall picture and thus An aid to the Democratic Party (probably Bonaccinian) in their search for identity in a clear anti-right switch. So Democrats could seek some political space in the Third Pole, which would have had to find an almost impossible balance between a willingness to confront Meloni and an opposition to what has always been perceived as more correct in the progressive world as anti-institutional leaks. Italy.
There are some psychological thresholds to keep in mind: In Lombardy, the League is targeting at least 13% (the figure for policies as of last September 25), while for Forza Italia it’s 8 percent (again, the national election figure). Meloni’s party aims to consolidate political data by a few percentage points (31.4 percent in Lazio, 27.6 percent in Lombardy) to pinpoint hierarchies on the Italian right by 2023.
Voting guidelines for February 12-13 in Lazio and Lombardy
- Lazio election 2023: candidates and information on how and when to vote
- Lombardy elections 2023: candidates and information on how and when to vote
Source: Today IT
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.
