The day after the fall of the Draghi government, parties began campaigning for early parliamentary elections on 25 September. Haste is indicated. Party symbols and links to lists to be shown on ballot papers must be deposited with the electoral officer of the Ministry of the Interior in Rome by 14 August. Verified lists of candidates, with their signatures, must be submitted to the competent courts of appeal by 22 August. It is a novelty in the history of the Republic of Italy that a vote is held in the autumn. Since 1948, Italians have always elected parliament in the first half of the year and thus determined their government. There have already been eight early elections.
Matthias Rub
Political correspondent for Italy, Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.
President Sergio Mattarella made it clear in a brief speech at the Quirinal Palace on Thursday night that he considers new elections the most unfavorable way out of a government crisis. But after two de facto votes of no confidence within a week against former ECB chief Mario Draghi, who he himself appointed to the highest government post in February 2021, he had no choice but to dissolve parliament. Mattarella entrusted the resigned head of government and his cabinet with continuing official business until a new government was formed. This process could drag on until November after elections in late September. So it will be a long goodbye for Draghi and his ministers.
Mattarella: The current situation does not allow for a break
Mattarella warned politicians not to give up and apply the reforms that were initiated. “It is my duty to emphasize that the current situation does not allow for any pause,” the president said. In times of war and inflation, of energy crises and pandemics, it is more necessary than ever to make policy decisions without delay. So, while politicians make a “fantasy campaign” for the next parliament in the “holy” vacation month of August, they also have to fulfill their duties as representatives of the elected people in 2018. It will be a politically turbulent summer, followed by a presumably warm autumn.
All signs indicate that right-wing parties can count on an electoral victory, or at least a majority of votes. The alliance of the post-fascist Italian Brothers party under Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing nationalist Lega led by former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi’s Christian Democrat Forza Italia appears to have consolidated again. More recently, there was a dispute over the presidential election in January, when the three alliance partners failed to approve a common candidate. Or to prevent the re-election of the current head of state, Mattarella.
Competition between Meloni and Salvini for the leadership role has also repeatedly derailed the alliance, but the tempting prospect of a joint takeover in a few months is likely to put the arm wrestling on hold for now. Meloni is undisputed in his party. At best, Salvini is dealing with complaints from the Lega’s moderate wing around Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who favored a continuation of the Draghi government but need not fear an uprising.
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Several cabinet members resigned from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia in protest at the party’s voting behavior in the no-confidence vote against Draghi on Wednesday night, but the four-time prime minister’s position as party leader is not at risk for While.
On the left, on the other hand, the cards are being reshuffled, to their detriment. Social Democrat party leader Enrico Letta’s project to forge a broad and lasting alliance with the left-wing populist Five Star Movement under Giuseppe Conte has failed miserably. “Never again with the five stars!” resounded Letta of her party, who now has to enter the race without an alliance partner of any size worthy of mention.
The decline of the five stars under their leader Conte is likely to continue. The winners of the 2018 elections, with nearly 33% of the vote at the time, are still divided internally, despite several divisions. And there will hardly be time before the elections in two months for the formation of a “third pole” of the center that is being sought after by several small parties in the political center.