Here in Sardinia, we get the feeling that the rest of Italy only cares about island affairs when the summer holidays approach. In other months, the lights go out. But this time we did our best to reverse the trend. Because the staged political show can sometimes be tragicomic and deserves to be told. There are regional elections, voting will be held on Sunday, February 25, 2024 (next year there will be voting on different dates in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Piedmont and Umbria). Repercussions at the national level will be inevitable, as always. Also like trailblazing idiots.

The centre-left has a losing strategy again

On the one hand, there is a re-candidacy debate on the centre-right: Salvini wants the incumbent governor, Christian Solinas of Sardinia, while Meloni wants to put all his money into his brother, Italy’s Paolo Truzzu, the mayor of Cagliari. There is no agreement between the three souls of Forza Italia, Lega and FdI and it is unclear who will emerge victorious.

What happens on the other side is worth laughing or crying (depending on your perspective). Even in the name of the most banal change, one might think that the victory of a progressive, albeit vague, conglomerate is imminent: health care in Sardinia is in shambles, internal transport and access to the peninsula third world country (USA) territorial continuity guarantees fewer rights for residents of the region with each passing year ), the birth rate is at its lowest level, and youth unemployment continues to rise rapidly. Practically everyone claims that Solinas did not govern well. And the victory of Salvini loyalists is now a memory of the distant past; This dates back to the spring of 2019, when the Northern League leader ran a victorious election campaign on the island and aimed to scalp Giuseppe Conte at the national level as well. A few months later Papeete committed suicide (political of course) but that’s another story.

A political suicide

Let’s turn to the centre-left. Until a few weeks ago, it was thought that a Pd-M5 agreement (plus other “minor” entities) on a common, respected and recognizable name would ensure success or, in any case, allow any candidate from the “conservative” world. to face a certain security. The “wide area” coalition led by Pd-M5S had found its way in time with the candidacy of Alessandra Todde, a five-star MP, former deputy minister for Development, entrepreneur, the real Contiana, but a figure respected and admired even by these people. Not belonging to the Five Star world, never had to do it.

All ok? No. Renato Soru, former president of the Region from 2004 to 2009 and currently president of the “Sardinian coalition”, which includes Progetto Sardegna, Progressisti, Liberu, Più Europa, Vota Sardigna, Rifondazione Comunista, has decided not to back down and apply. He wanted question primaries but could not get them. Since a reference to the family cannot be missing in the Italian comedy, Camilla Soru, a member of the national leadership of the Democratic Party and Renato’s daughter, clearly sided with Todde: “My father did not oppose during these years of government. I am always wary of those who wake up only in the pre-election stages, because the sacred fire of politics If it is only burned when there is a superior role that can be assumed, something does not make sense.”

Renato Soru, meanwhile, arguably left the Democratic Party without looking back and maintains a pretty hefty and pretty respectable level of support. Tiscali’s owner still carries a lot of votes. On his side are the Progressives, a party unknown to most but very well-established in Cagliari and the surrounding area, and the balance is shifting a lot. In the end, even the Renzians and the Sardinian Calendinians were able to side with him. The voters, or at least the vast majority of them, do not seem to understand the reasons for such harakiri. But what difference does it make?

Divided centre-left has no chance

As if that wasn’t enough, Sardinian electoral law is an abomination: it provides a majority bonus of 60 percent of seats if the candidate with the most votes gets 40 percent of the vote: this happened in both Pigliaru and Solinas. the last two election rounds and ensure manageability. But there are also unprecedented “cons” when it comes to representation. There is a very high threshold of 10% for coalitions: in 2014, Sardegna Possibile head Michela Murgia received 76 thousand votes but was left out of the regional council.

Even though those directly involved (primarily the Question) have strongly ruled it out, there are still those hoping for a last-minute recast. The divided centre-left has no chance. And despite the disagreements, it is clear that the centre-right will, one way or another, present itself at the polls as compactly as a concrete bloc, as it has for three decades, locally and nationally. When you vote, there are people who follow you and cause disaster. The self-destructive tendency of the Italian left is about to reach new heights.

Curtain

Debates between the two center-left camps will of course continue until the presentation of the lists, and it is also possible that the Question will back down until the last moment (the author would bet his proverbial two cents on this), but he will be the leader of a progressive, centrist and independent coalition (this very special mixture of adjectives He assures me that he wants to continue its creation (whatever that means).

But maybe it’s all a ruse, a joke, an unusual strategy, a little theater of the absurd staged by what’s left of the old left: to get people talking about Sardinia even in the low season when dreamy beaches are deserted and tourism is busy. at least. In this case, the goal has been achieved. And I suggest this: next time the percentage of abstentions breaks new records, let us marvel and thoughtfully ask ourselves what causes the discontent and indifference of large segments of the population to a policy perceived as incomprehensible.