collapse of the M5S, Conte ends up in the crosshairs. The Pd divided on the agreement but Schlein goes straight – Corriere.it

The adventure of the semi-wide field (Pd, M5S, Italian Left) had begun under bad auspices. Last Wednesday, to go to a rally in that region, Giuseppe Conte had a rear-end collision on the A1. The next day, while he was going to Campobasso to have a lemonade with the dem secretary and the leader of the 5 stars, Nicola Fratoianni had to leave the burning car.

Elly Schlein it had not suffered any damage but on Monday, on the other hand, its allies were reduced. As the head of local government of the Democratic Party admits, without being furious David Baruffi: The Pd ran to try to win. He did so generously by supporting Gravina’s candidacy because he was deemed the most competitive, but also seeking maximum involvement and expansion of the coalition. If this has paid off for the Democratic Party, the same cannot be said for the rest of the lists alongside us, to whom sincere thanks go in any case.

Yes, because the Democratic Party took the same percentage of last year’s Policies, the 5 Stars, on the other hand, collapsed and took a third of what they had obtained in 2022. Therefore Schlein warns his team: This time let’s avoid psychodramas. We must proceed with our agenda. If the Pd therefore held, the data for the M5S instead disheartening. The Movement goes from 24% last September to single-digit percentages. And the outcome of the vote sounds like a redde rationem for Conte, who has staked everything on Molise. A risky all-in. For the first time the leader ends up in the crosshairs. The merits of this result are all Conte’s. Politics doesn’t work with a personal party. He took out a ruling class and now we can see the results, he attacks a starred one. And there are those who remark: We are no longer in the times of the Sun King.

The Contians form a wall, speak of expected defeat, of a decline in line with the Administratives. However, even among the faithful there are some distinctions: there are those who would prefer a solo run of the Movement. Instead of having a coffee at the bar, perhaps you needed to go among the people, in the squares, listen and have banquets, cut short another starred. The concern now in a European key: will the Movement be able to stay above the 10% threshold?

While Conte is under attack for the first time in his party, questions are being raised in the Democratic Party about the prospects of the alliance with the 5 Stars. And the party’s result is not enough to dispel the doubts, even if Baruffi underlines that the Democratic Party will be in the field as the first opposition force and as the second party in the region. At this point there are those who propose to engage the handbrake: agreements with the M5S only on concrete issues, letting the wide field settle. But there are also those who point out that perhaps it was a mistake to avoid the rallies together: In this way the idea is not given of an alliance, but of a grouping of people who were ashamed to be seen together.

Schlein invites everyone to calm down and then explains to his people: The Democratic Party is there anyway. The alliance to be built, but we knew that the challenge in Molise was difficult and that the center-right, according to the data from the Policies, was ahead. Precisely for this reason some supporters of the secretary asked her some time ago: But why are you going to put your face on this defeat?. The dem leader preferred to assume her responsibilities, convinced as she is that it is necessary to build with difficulty, step by step, the path to arrive at an alliance capable of competing with the center-right in the next Policies.

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