«We had done it maybe we could make an alliance with the 5 Stars». So a tense Nadia Conticelli, candidate for the regional elections, breaks the silence by watching the instant polls on the giant screen in the PD headquarters in Via Coppino. The first results, however provisional, make the Dems breathe a sigh of relief. The debacle with Cirio at 60 percent was expected and Pentenero well below 30. Instead, the gap reduces the centre-right, between 50 and 54 percent, and gives a breath of fresh air to the centre-left, between 34 and 38.
Gianna Pentenero also thinks about the past: «If we had left a month earlier, perhaps we would not have been in these conditions. The data? Let’s wait for the real numbers. We have a lot of attention on the turnout which, if as it seems, should exceed the national average, it will mean that the polls underestimated the Piedmontese voters and that the attention to the government of the territory was the driving force behind this appointment. This adds attention to the analysis that we will have to do in the next few hours, precisely in light of how the Piedmontese men and women will have moved in the vote.”
The evening at the party headquarters had begun with superstition. Gioacchino Cuntrò preferred to watch Italy’s match until the end. Then finally a look at the numbers. The news of the Democratic Party far exceeding expectations was greeted with boos and words full of optimism. Cuntrò repeats “good” twice. Marcello Mazzù asks to look at the numbers of his Collegno. The regional secretary of the Democratic Party Domenico Rossi it’s not in via Coppino: «I’ll come tomorrow to get the definitive results».
And in the meantime he decides to comment on the European data: «The advance of the right, even the extreme ones, is worrying, throughout Europe as well as the explosion of abstentionism which in Italy and the Union becomes almost a majority. Fear and resignation prevail. These are data that demonstrate how there is still a lot of work to do to build the Republic of Europe necessary to build the future we need. In this context, the percentages achieved by the Democratic Party are good, confirming itself as the first progressive and pro-European party in Italy and among the first in Europe. These are positive results but they are not enough: in fact, they give us a great responsibility for the future to be exercised immediately.”
