‘God guard me from voting as friends, I’ll guard against enemies’, moan the mayoral candidates when they think about the possibility of split voting, a democratic option for troubled voters, but also for those who want to settle scores within parties and coalitions. In the part of the city PD that has suffered most from his candidacy, for example, the unease of a fringe that suffers from a possible victory in the carriage of the foreign Pope Massimo Mezzetti is mounting: it would be the first time of a mayor (almost) external to the ‘company’ with which to have to deal with choices in the next five years. The main path would be to win the relative majority of seats in the Council (the ideal would be 16 out of 32, but even 15 would be a comforting result), so as to ensure the hegemony of decisions and ‘hold hostage’ the mayor.
But a less exhausting shortcut would be to hope that Mezzetti wins… but not too much. That is, let him prevail, but without triumphing by demonstrating, perhaps, never, that he even has a higher percentage of the coalition that supports him. Because in this case the former regional councilor could, always with the force of kindness of course, politically orient the city council by hoisting himself onto the pile of votes taken.
The temptation, legend has it, is to spread the vote, making use of a possibility that the law allows to accommodate those who perhaps want to reward their cousin candidate on a list, but not the connected aspiring mayor. That is, mark on the same ballot paper, inside the booth where Mezzetti cannot see you, the Democratic Party or an ally (expressing your preferences) and the name of the candidate for mayor of another parish. Suppose that, in the most successful of the hypotheses of these snipers, the operation is successful, a victory could be obtained in the first round, but with a weaker mayor than the coalition that supports him. Or (gaudium magnum) get to the run-off and still win it, but with a mayor at that point bruised and with his hat in his hand in front of the alliance.
Now, no one among the Dems realistically claims that the cross-eyed vote could have any effect: it would have to be organized in a military manner if we consider that to move even just 1 percent of the consensus to one side or the other, a thousand votes are needed in Modena , which are not few. But the suggestions, the resentments, the fears, the revenge that fuel this scenario are certainly circulating.
Not that on the other side, let’s be clear, there is a lack of ‘daggers in men’s smiles’. Luca Negrini’s candidacy by Fratelli d’Italia has left consequences: were these months enough to heal the wounds? Maybe. Rumors point to a moderate group that would have preferred other solutions and, either out of revenge or out of personal conviction, is ready for the ‘double vote’: the symbol of a coalition party supporting Negrini, but a mayoral candidate from another side.
It already happened. In the last election, observers noticed that a group of centre-right voters had expressed a preference for the party symbol, so as to still guarantee its representation in the City Council, but chose to confirm Gian Carlo Muzzarelli as mayoral candidate. Ah, if voting booths could talk…
