The foreign Pope does not exist. Within the Democratic Party, more than one voice is urging not to rush into primary elections, out of fear that a hand-to-hand combat between Elly Schlein and Giuseppe Conte would leave more rubble than votes on the field. When moving from diagnosis to cure, however, the list of potential saviors of the broad coalition quickly withers away. The chaos is such that even the followers of Prodi are reportedly moving to ask both leaders to take a step back. Third-party names emerge, circulate, and burn out, until the names of the two leaders are always the ones left on the table.
"If I had to bet, I'd say the polling stations will eventually be set up," a Democratic Party executive cuts it short. And from the Nazareno headquarters, no signals of retreat are coming: "Either the primaries happen, or whoever gets the most votes goes forward." But within the 5 Star Movement, the idea that leadership should automatically go to the party with one extra vote is not even being considered. In the former prime minister's inner circle, the directive remains unchanged: the line on the primaries is set in stone.
The summer debate on the leadership of the broad coalition has turned into a whirlwind of formulas, vetoes, and more or less credible candidates. The latest provocation by Democrat Roberto Speranza—avoiding the Schlein-Conte duel by focusing on a symbolic figure, perhaps "a newly turned eighteen-year-old or an elderly partisan"—has sparked irony. But behind the joke lies the torment of that "large faction" which also includes Dario Franceschini and Andrea Orlando, aiming to defuse a high-risk challenge for the party's balance. Reversing the argument, however, is the reformist front, with Lia Quartapelle—invoking Arturo Parisi—warning that "the effort to try to avoid the primaries" risks "doing more damage than going to compete in the primaries." Not going to the polling stations is "a hugely damaging idea," insists the Democratic senator, also relaunching the runoff formula. A line that interprets the moods of an area still orphaned by a center of gravity. According to rumors pointing to Brussels, the potential point of reference in the race for the polling stations could be MEP Giorgio Gori, who is capable of gathering support even beyond the Democratic Party, from Carlo Calenda to Pina Picierno. Nicola Zingaretti and Stefano Bonaccini also enter the risk analysis, but the Democratic Party president himself is cooling down the name-game and shifting the focus to substance. "Talking now" about primaries "means putting the cart before the horse," warns the former governor of Emilia-Romagna from the Rimini Meeting, urging them to write the manifesto first and then go to the polling stations "or, like in all democracies in the world, the leading party expresses the leadership." Because, he cuts it short, "if we don't join forces, Meloni can go on vacation and return to Palazzo Chigi after the elections."
Behind the public statements remains the groundwork surrounding a third-party figure who could allow both Schlein and Conte to take a step back without it sounding like a surrender. The shortlist is wide, but for now, no name settles the game: from Silvia Salis to Gaetano Manfredi, passing through Antonio Decaro and the hypothesis of the "federator" Pier Luigi Bersani.
To truly work, Democratic sources reason, "we would need an authoritative, unquestionable figure, not the card of this or that faction." If the primaries really are going to happen, the groundwork for playing them must first be built. Riccardo Magi is pushing for a table on essential coordinates to open "rapidly," starting with foreign policy. Otherwise, he warns, the polling stations risk becoming "ripping and divisive." A first window could open after Nova, the M5s two-day national event on September 19 and 20. Until early October, in all likelihood, the cards will remain close to the chest. Even the one upon which most eyes are resting: "A good project with the right leader can make it" at the ballot box, Salis limits herself to stating at the Festa dell'Unità in La Spezia, indicating a route that always starts from her Genoa: a broad coalition, a shared program, a candidacy capable of holding them together. As for the name, especially hers, she lets others insist.
