THE inconclusive result of Italy’s election on March 4th has, paradoxically, foisted a decisive role on a party that emerged from the contest demoralised, defeated and divided. Though its share of the vote plunged to below 19%, its worst-ever result, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) will occupy enough seats in the new parliament to be able to put either a right-wing alliance or the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) into government. Guessing which way they will jump, though, is no easy matter.
It is a measure of the disaster that befell the party that the centre-left alliance it led came first in only one of the four regions that formerly comprised central Italy’s “red belt”. The right was victorious in Umbria and Emilia-Romagna. The M5S headed the poll in the Marche. The exception was Tuscany, the native region of the PD’s former leader, Matteo Renzi, whose resignation was accepted on March 12th at a meeting of his party’s leadership.
Florence, Tuscany’s regional capital, is a more working-class city than…Continue reading
Source: The Economist – Europe