Regional elections: Elly Schelin is winning every battle, the broad field has a leader for 2027.

There's been a lot of controversy, particularly in the newspapers, about the broad camp. Why? Because questions have arisen, naturally in view of the regional elections, regarding the relationship between the two largest parties in the broad camp: the Democratic Party , which polls show between 22 and 24%, and the Five Star Movement , which polls show between 12 and 16%. It's been said, especially some newspapers, that Giuseppe Conte dictates the terms. Even though he's the leader of a minority party, Conte decides what the Democratic Party should do.

The exact opposite is happening: five regional elections are being prepared, six now involving Calabria : Puglia , Campania , Marche , Tuscany , and Veneto . It's taken for granted that Veneto will go to the right; we'll see about Calabria now; the issue has just arisen. In the other four regions, one is Marche , a right-wing region that, however, can be conquered by the center-left. The other three are regions currently governed by the center-left. The presidential candidates for these regions are Matteo Ricci , who is from the Democratic Party , in Marche ; Antonio Decaro , who is from the Democratic Party, in Puglia; Eugenio Giani , who is from the Democratic Party, in Tuscany; and Roberto Fico , who is from the Five Star Movement, in Campania.

Of course, there's still some resistance. For example, in Campania, the faction led by Vincenzo De Luca doesn't like Fico because they don't like a Five Star Movement member. In Tuscany, the Five Star Movement is raising questions about Giani. This debate is ongoing, but basically, you'll see that these are the candidates, almost all from the Democratic Party except Fico in Campania.

But it's not normal for things to happen this way in a coalition. The newspapers say Schlein takes orders from Conte . However, she's running in four regions where she can win, and in three of them the candidates are chosen by Schlein, so it seems to me that it's exactly the opposite. In fact, for the first time, Conte, in the Marche region, accepted a candidate against whom the judiciary had turned against, Ricci. After some hesitation, he gave the green light to the candidacy: Conte said that someone who is a suspect, someone who is under investigation, is not necessarily guilty. Ricci doesn't seem guilty to me; that's the new development.

So what's happening? Something very simple. The broad camp is maturing, and it seems to me that Schlein is guiding it very well, with prudence, with intelligence, without giving anything away, but naturally treating it as one would a broad camp. You have to negotiate, you have to give in, you have to have, you have to make compromises. An alliance with these electoral laws is an alliance, it's not unification, it's not becoming a single party, it's different parties. Then there's the left of Fratoiani and Bonelli , there will probably also be the centrists, those of Renzi , those of Calenda .

What's going on on the right? They're truly divided. In Veneto, Zaia risks ruining everything, and in the other regions, no candidate can be found. This kind of politics, where elections ultimately end in a one-on-one situation, requires the candidates to be determined and agreements to be made between the parties.

What's the point? The point is 2027. If the center-left survives this November's regional elections unscathed and manages to win three or four of these regions, then a broad field has been formed and an alliance capable of winning the 2027 elections has been created, and this greatly worries the right. But this seems to me to be Elly Schlein 's merit, who has won every battle so far; then we'll see...

FROM

Piero Sansonetti