Of course, it was difficult to win the regionals in Piedmont, but it was even more difficult to lose them like this. It all began with a phase of stalemate between the Dem currents, aggravated by the Echidna investigation which forced Raffaele Gallo, the leader of the Pd group in the regional council, to resign, and then continued with the usual Pd-5S tussle over the choice of candidate. Data, cause and pretext which, barring miracles, will hand over the region to the outgoing centre-right governor Alberto Cirio on 8 and 9 June. Could it have been done better? It certainly couldn’t have been done worse.
What happened in the Democratic Party?
The birth of a centre-left coalition, on the model of the centre-right tripartite, is an impossible operation for a very simple reason: with all its currents, the Democratic Party is already in fact a coalition. The regional elections in Piedmont do not present any significant news from this point of view, only confirmations.
From the moment in which a candidacy had to be considered, the local Dem currents promptly got involved in the now well-known competition to see who counts more: on the one hand the“Turin” wing, loyal to Bonaccini, was determined to support the regional councilor Daniele Valle; on the other the Schlein traction current it focused on the name of a woman, Chiara Gribaudo, vice president of the national Democratic Party.
One of the hypotheses to untie the knot on the two opposing candidacies was that he could be the leader of the PD group in the regional council and leader in the past elections Raffaele Gallo the anti-Alberto Cirio candidate. This time, it was not this or that current that debunked the hypothesis, but the outbreak of the Echidna investigation. Raffaele’s father, Salvatore known as Sasà, former Sitaf manager and well-known exponent of the local Democratic Party, is under investigation for extortion, embezzlement and violation of electoral regulations.
Raffaele is not under investigation, but it is known: the sins of fathers often fall on their children. The damage to the image was done and the candidacy was compromised. With a terse and painful note Gallo jr has announced his inevitable resignation:
«For the protection of my children and my wife and with a sense of responsibility towards the Democratic Party, I am withdrawing my candidacy for the June elections. Before being a public man with political responsibility, I am a father and a husband. I resign as president of the council group.”
Weeks of stalemate followed which pushed the Dems to decide on what more than a candidate seems to be a synthesis to get out of an impasse that was starting to appear embarrassing even to them: Gianna Pentenero, 60 years old, Schlein area, twice regional councilor and current councilor of the Turin council led by Stefano Lo Russo. After your candidacy you declared: «I want thematic civic lists: women, healthcare, local administrators».
More than “I want” it is appropriate to use the conditional, given that polls see her 20 points away from Alberto Cirio’s 54%., the outgoing centre-right governor who is about to be reconfirmed after Marco Marsilio in Abruzzo and Vito Bardi in Basilicata. One of two: either on the right there are enlightened statesmen who as such are chosen by popular acclaim at every election; or there are miracle workers whose electoral campaign is facilitated in every round by the self-opposition that takes the form of the centre-left.
Meanwhile the 5S are running for the municipal elections
The cross on the coffin of the regional elections in Piedmont was put by the 5S, evidently convinced that they can overcome the Dems in terms of self-harm. Determined not to reach an agreement with the Democratic Party, they will run alone with their candidate Sarah Disabato and their 8%, according to the most optimistic polls. Of course, such a harakiri had to be justified: With you And Hanger they succeeded, passing off a suicide as a murder. They found the “killer” in the unfortunate mayor of the Democratic Party of Turin Stefano Lo Russowhich has to do with the regional elections like – at this point we can say – the 5S in the regional elections.
But what could Lo Russo have done in his Turin that was so serious that it pushed the Five Star Movement to refuse to reach an agreement not with him, but with his party, and not for municipal elections, but for regional ones? Conte and Appendino managed to explain this too.
First the former 5S prime minister live on X:
«We worked generously with the Democratic Party but we had objective difficulties. In Turin the Lo Russo council works in the opposite direction to that of Appendino. The Democratic Party made a breakthrough by nominating its own candidate. We take note of it. The M5S will proceed to designate one of its candidates.”
Then the turn of the former mayor of Turin:
«Politics is a high thing, it is not a question of personal quarrels. I don’t look at the past but at the present and future well-being of citizens. The differences are political: from rights to the environment, including land consumption. Here the Lo Russo-led Democratic Party shows that it is stuck on the positions of the regional right.”
In short, they had the ability to transform the regional elections in Piedmont into municipal elections, consistently opposing the mayor of Turin (Pd) rather than the governor of the Region (Forza Italia), who without needing to run, walks calmly towards an easy victory. And best wishes to the “wide field” but, above all, to Piedmont!
The centre-right module
In the center-right the problems are very different. There were skirmishes, yes, but over deciding how to divide the spoils. The scheme for the composition of the Cirio price list had to be chosen. It seemed like they all agreed on a 5-3-2: five places for Fratelli d’Italia, three for Lega, two for Forza Italia, with We Moderates left empty-handed. But the latest polls had pushed the Azzurri to ask for a reversal of positions with the Northern League. The mix-up now seems to have been resolved. The scheme remains unchanged, also because Berlusconi’s former party already has the security of the outgoing governor’s reconfirmation on its side.
The list will therefore see five exponents of FdI (Chiorino, Marrone, Cameroni, Sacchetto and Cigolini), followed by the Lega (Carosso, Gancia, Preioni) and finally by Forza Italia (Beccaria and Gabusi).
The new electoral law
The electoral law with which we will vote on 8 and 9 June for the regional elections in Piedmont introduces important innovations.
First of all, it establishes theincompatibility between the functions of councilor and those of councillordetermining the suspension from the functions of councilor for the period in which those of councilor are carried out.
Regulates the electoral system: 40 seats are allocated by proportional representation in competing constituency lists e 10 instead with a majority system on the basis of regional lists combined with the Presidential candidate.
The majority prize determines that the winning coalition will receive at least 55% of the seats, or 28, in the event of victory with a percentage lower than 45% of the valid votes; at least 60% of the seats, i.e. 30, in the event of a victory equal to or greater than 45% and less than or equal to 60% of the valid votes; finally, at least 64% of the seats, therefore 32, in the event of victory with a percentage equal to or greater than 60% of the valid votes.
The barrier threshold it is set at 5% for coalitions and 3% for individual lists.
Finally, space will be given to the regional elections in Piedmont gender equality: neither sex can be represented in excess of 60% of the candidates. Furthermore, the voter can express up to two preferences, as long as they do not go to candidates of the same sex.
