(Sixth Power) – Forlì – 19 June 2024 – The Forlivese PD met last night as part of the joint territorial and municipal assemblies, convened for a first discussion after the administrative and European vote. Large participation, in a packed room, at the Taverna Verde.
Many contributions from members, in the presence of the Regional Secretary of the Democratic Party, Luigi Tosiani, after the interventions of the secretaries Gessica Allegni and Michele Valli.
Also present were the newly elected or reconfirmed mayors, including Jader Dardi and Ilaria Marianini, city councilors and candidates for the office of mayor, starting with Graziano Rinaldini, who received multiple thanks and recognitions for running in the capital municipality, from set off.
At the center of every intervention, we read in a note from the Democratic Party: “the protection and strengthening of the unity of the Party at all levels, in a positive and sharing climate.”
This meeting, as Allegni explained, which announces a more ‘technical’ analysis of the vote within the bodies and supported by experts, “because we need to understand what happened in the gap between the European vote and the administrative one” it was the “widest and most participatory transition possible within the Party, for a discussion on what has happened and also to prepare ourselves for new challenges that are upon us, starting from the next regional elections”.
After an analysis at national level, “which marked a result well above the psychological threshold of 20%, earning the PD over 250 thousand votes compared to the policies” Allegni continues: “On the territory, in addition to the capital municipality, they went 10 municipalities took the administrative vote and, even in those where we did not win the administrative elections and where the right-wing group or those belonging to that camp reconfirmed themselves, the Democratic Party is growing. And it almost always grows, in percentage terms, both compared to the 2019 European elections and to the 2022 elections. In 6 municipalities (including Forlì) we are the first Party, in some cases with data significantly higher than the regional and provincial average, reaching some of these at 38% (Bertinoro, Forlimpopoli) or even 40, as in S. Sofia”.
Regarding Forlì, Allegni states: “I don’t want to look for justifications, because a defeat is a defeat, and we will have to understand what didn’t work, but I want to vindicate the great work that has been done and which has seen us act as a true political community, helping to recover to many and many a trust that was no longer taken for granted. It wasn’t enough, but without this assumption we would have faced a much heavier defeat, while we came one step away from a run-off that could have decisively changed the fate of the city”.
In the assembly the critical points were analysed, but it emerged that the renewed unity of the party and the human capital that has blossomed during this electoral round must absolutely not be wasted. “If I have to think about what we missed – says Allegni. – , perhaps two things in particular: a little more confidence, in ourselves, in the real possibility of changing a destiny that seemed sealed and then a tangible vision of the future, capable of creating an emotional wave that would undermine the image of an administration of doing, a doing without perspective, without push for change, aimed at satisfying the electorate and achieving easy and immediate consensus. When I say that we have nothing to complain about, I don’t mean that we didn’t do anything wrong, it would be a short-sighted and self-absolving attitude that is not part of my way of understanding politics. But I mean that an extraordinary job has been done, of rebuilding political and human relations, a campaign built on relationships with people, door-to-door, squares, streets, factories, places of aggregation. Because we have mobilized volunteers in all the neighborhoods, who have rediscovered the desire to be part of a team”.
“Now we must start again, from the council group, also involving those who have not been elected, in a close relationship with the party to make these five years a period of construction and future sowing. We must work at all levels and in all municipalities, for the construction of ruling classes, which cannot be improvised, but which require training, listening practice, study and above all continuing to be among people, even those does not think like us, to appear credible and attentive to the needs of our community”, states Allegni.
Valli then underlined how, in Forlì and in the area “the Democratic Party needed people willing to play the game aware of the fact that the result is far from simple but rather very hard to obtain, but still aiming for the best possible result. Despite the defeat, we continue to work together to build a shared path. An analysis of the precise vote in our bodies will be made, not to find culprits or scapegoats because the people of Forlì do not expect this from us but to build the future. We must start again from what good has been done, among the elected councilors there are young people who have achieved excellent results: the new council group must maintain a direct line with the Party, addressing important and shared issues. Everyone recognized that in recent months we have been among people, we must do this for 5 years, to develop solutions for citizens.”
After listening to the speeches of those present, Tosiani concluded the evening: “In a Party, which is a community of people, you win and lose together. In a European context that has lights and shadows, the PD stands as the leading force in the group of Socialists and Democrats, with a result that goes beyond expectations, despite the worrying signals coming from France and Germany for example. This is why I want to reiterate that we are the future of Europe, precisely because in Italy the challenge takes on decisive proportions. These European elections, however, do not relegate us to the mere role of opposition, but are the first step towards building the alternative; we need a common effort from all the forces opposing the right, and it is the PD that must act as a pivot to this perspective. Today (yesterday ed.) we were in the streets to defend the Constitution, we must be here, in the streets, even to get booed if necessary, to also attempt a progressive recovery from the abstention, a dramatic fact for us. We want a Democratic Party that can be a haven for those who ask for a different future, a community we can trust.”
“The result in Emilia-Romagna was literally extraordinary, we grew by 5 points (and in valid votes) compared to 5 years ago, we return to being the first Party without ‘eating’ votes from the centre-left coalition. We have put ourselves behind a season characterized by too many arguments and too many divisions, I have never seen a PD so united, and we are talking about true unity, which values pluralism. And an important contribution to this unity was given by the Forlì Democratic Party. In Emilia-Romagna the right is that of Bignami and Buonguerrieri, of those who thought of playing these elections and the next regions on the skin of the flood victims; This is why I am very proud of the result of the Democratic Party and the CSX in the affected municipalities, which rewarded our candidates. Proud of our values, public health, public schools, the serious and rigorous profile, on the side of the people in post-flood reconstruction”: said Tosiani who quoted, in closing, a phrase from Robert Green Ingersoll “The greatest test of courage is to endure defeat without losing heart.”
