The center-left parties emerged victorious in the local elections in Italy. In Rome, five-star mayor Raggi is desperately voted out of office. The populists on the right and left are taking a damper.
In June 2016, Virginia Raggi stood with a green, white and red sash on the balcony of the City Hall of Rome and wept with happiness and bewilderment. Five years later, the hope for the five-star movement, who was to be the first woman at the head of Rome to be a symbol of the farewell to the old political caste in Italy, was thrown out of office.
In the local elections on Sunday and Monday, Raggi clearly missed one of the first two places, which was necessary for the runoff in two weeks. With less than 20 percent of the vote, they chased the Romans out of the Palazzo del Campidoglio.
Raggi stumbled upon very specific problems in the capital, for example found no solution to the omnipresent garbage problem, could not mend the broken streets and was even blamed by political opponents for more and more wild boars roaming around in the middle of the city. The fact that the dangerous Mafia clan of Casamonica was cracked down on during Raggi’s term of office and that the mayor was placed under police protection after death threats did not make up for the omissions in the conclusion of the commentators.
“Ciao Virgì,” the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party called after Raggi in a malicious Instagram post. In a photo collage, five-star boss Giuseppe Conte can also be seen holding his hand in front of his eyes and forehead. In fact, the movement founded a good ten years ago by cabaret artist Beppe Grillo suffered heavy losses, and the Italian media wrote of the “collapse”. In addition to Rome, the party also lost the mayor’s post in Turin.
Salvini is no longer the star of the right
But other populists also suffered dampening, such as the former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, whose Lega was overtaken by the Fratelli d’Italia around party leader Giorgia Meloni on the right. In Rome and Turin, the center-right candidates made it to the runoff election, but are outsiders there. Because Milan and Naples went to the center-left in the first ballot, the right-wing should not end up having a mayor in the country’s four largest cities.
“We have shown that the right can be beaten,” said the head of the Social Democrats, the former Prime Minister Enrico Letta, triumphantly as the election winner. His rival Meloni promptly turned it into a – poisoned – declaration of war: «In democracies one wins or one is defeated. The question is whether you dare to compete. We do! “
Meloni has a politically explosive ulterior motive: she promised the Social Democrats to elect the current Prime Minister Mario Draghi as President in early 2022. The scenario that the currently so successful and resolute head of government should be promoted to the country’s first citizen has haunted Rome for weeks.
In return, however, Letta would have to approve new parliamentary elections immediately. “Then we compete in the open field, in free elections,” said Meloni with sparkling eyes. Those who then win could rule for five years “without anyone from the European clique imposing a government on us”. Their calculation is clear: after the setback, Meloni has the big comeback of the nationalists and populists in mind.
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
