The vote for the European Parliament is fundamental because this institution will have to make decisive choices for the future, which should influence relations, strategies and influences with the rest of the world, far beyond small national squabbles
The elections of uncertainty, doubt, indecision. A few more days and these European elections will be held and this eternal and interminable electoral campaign will end. Yet, despite the long time it takes to create lists and alignments, the feeling that is perceived in many democratic and left-wing circles is that of discouragement if not of giving up.
However, there is already a winner, certain and indisputable: the abstention party. No party or alignment will have as much following as that of abstention. A fact that should make us reflect, and on which little or no attention is paid except with some fleeting declarations of hypocritical regret.
In truth, abstention is convenient for all sides, because the passage of a few votes from one side to the other can determine victory or defeat, which would not be possible with high turnouts. A few votes, with strong abstentionism, have very great decision-making power. And therefore it is not in anyone’s interest, in fact, that the turnout is greater, it is enough to be able to attract those few sufficient numbers and you can celebrate victory or cry defeat. The recent Sardinian elections, and not only that, demonstrate this.
It matters little that representation suffers. In whose name is government governed if the winner is chosen by less than an eighth of the voters? Don’t Meloni and FdI govern on the basis of 25% of half the voters? Far from letting the citizens, the people, choose who will govern them, as the Melonian Reform promises.
This is why a real, obsessive, intense, determined, convinced, continuous campaign to call for participation is not carried out by anyone. Indeed, there are cases in which an even lower turnout was hoped for as the only hope of victory (such as, for example, in the elections to fill the vacant seat of Monza left by the late Berlusconi, where 19.25% of voters voted) .
In this desolate picture, the average voter, the democratic voter and in particular the militant of the center-left and the left in general, finds himself even more disoriented than usual. These are still elections for a Parliament that will have to make big choices that should influence relationships, strategies and influences with the rest of the world, far beyond small national squabbles.
Yet a sense of disorientation, indecision and enormous unease dominates: who to vote for? Who do you feel close to your sensitivity, your history, your ‘ideals’? Who do we feel represents our aspirations?
Because if on the one hand it is clear how much distance there is from the right, the opposing side, on the other, can the appeal to vote be enough as the only strong motivation to prevent the right from winning?
The offer, as always on the left, is varied, multifaceted, chameleon-like. What are the possibilities then?
Vote for the Democratic Party? The largest (but nevertheless not hegemonic) party which theoretically has the greatest possibility of influencing the future choices of the European Parliament, what will it be?
And yet, can we accept a party that remains in favor, for example, of financing further armaments for Ukraine? Who voted for the equating of fascism and communism? Who supported Draghi, who seems to resurface as a candidate to succeed Von Der Leyen? Who puts Berlinguer’s effigy on his membership card, provoking the resentment of half the party? Who over the years has embraced all liberal policies, both European and national? Which is and remains characterized by currents? In short, you can vote for a party that, for now, maintains all the ambiguities that have characterized it since its foundation. Can this vote satisfy a “left-wing” non-PD voter?
So let’s vote for the “left-wing” Avs list, especially since Ilaria Salis is a candidate, and then, after all, it is the only “left-wing” Italian coalition that seems to be able to overcome the 4% barrier. But there is a but, because a vote in this sense could mean not electing Salis (both due to the single national constituency and because she is not a candidate in all the constituencies) but instead electing a representative of the Greens. That is, an exponent who in Europe (after all, these are European elections) will go to the group of European Greens (YES and Greens will openly split in Brussels) who in their program declare that they will support all initiatives in favor of Ukraine, including weapons financing. And therefore all the pacifist rhetoric on the list is only valid as national electoral propaganda, because in Europe the choices will then be different. What a boring hindrance, obstacle, encumbrance, stumbling block this blessed war is.
Well, then let’s vote for Santoro’s List, Peace, Earth and Dignity. After all, it is the only coherently pacifist coalition. But won’t it be a wasted vote? Because this list seems to have very little chance of exceeding the 4% barrier and therefore representing a further obstacle for those who had the best chance of making it.
In short, uncertainty reigns supreme, stomach aches are renewed, feelings of guilt multiply and what reigns is disorientation.
The hope is that, despite this sad picture, in the end we will not give in to discouragement and will vote, we will choose between one or the other and will not contribute to the growth of abstention. Come on comrades, let’s try stubbornly to keep the voice alive, let’s go and vote, let’s choose: “ha da passà ‘a nuttata”.
The author: Lionello Fittante is among the promoters of the Autoconvocati of Leu, former member of the National Committee of the political movement èViva
