“I ask Italians to write my name, but my first name” in the European elections. “I am proud that the majority of citizens who address me call me Giorgia. I have been mocked for years for my popular roots, they have called me fisherman, villager… because they are cultured… But I am proud of being a person of the people”, said the prime minister and leader of the Brothers of Italy Giorgia Meloni from the stage in Pescara. “If you want to tell me that you still believe in me, write Giorgia on the card, because I am and will always be one of you. Power will not change me, the palace will not isolate me. I need to know once again that it is worth it” . After a year and a half at the helm of the government, the prime minister therefore launched not only the electoral campaign of the Brothers of Italy for the European elections but also the challenge of weighing her personal consensus: ‘Giorgia Meloni known as Giorgia’ will be the wording on the list which will allow you to indicate only the name as a preference.
An unusual choice
The Prime Minister’s request, although undoubtedly unusual, does not violate the rules and makes the preference valid. The option that includes only the first name does not in fact lead to the cancellation of the vote because – as FdI circles explain – in the party list the candidate’s name will be “Giorgia Meloni known as Giorgia”. And the possibility of giving preference to a candidate by writing only his or her first name or nickname is not new, but an expedient that has been widespread for years. In fact, in the electoral lists it happens that some candidates choose to be indicated on the ballot with the wording “Tizio known as Caio”. This happened for example with Marco Pannella, former leader of the Italian Radicals who on the lists was “Giacinto Pannella known as Marco”, because everyone knew him just like Marco. Choosing only the first name is a ploy to avoid losing votes in the event that a voter makes a mistake in writing a name on the ballot, especially when the lists have many candidates and there are similar surnames, or when a candidate is known above all by a diminutive of the name or by a nickname, as in the case of Pannella, however, the choice has more to do with the closeness to the common people. “I’m proud to be one person of the people”, the Prime Minister recalled yesterday.
