Pd, Benifei: “No regrets, Elly won because she’s good. Now let’s not lock ourselves in a minority Pd”

“In the coming Democratic Party, there must be everyone’s commitment, we must remain and work together, all together to transform votes into participation: it is good that the open vote has mobilized a million people, but now it is necessary not to let them participate once year, and get people who haven’t even come to the primaries to do it.” Try to move on, Brando Benifei, head of the Bonaccini motion program, among the great losers of the dem congress. His turn on the Emilian governor, for someone who grew up on the left, for years under the wing of Andrea Orlando, in the dem world had turned into a small, big diplomatic storm. Now the head of the party delegation in Europe says he is “at Elly Schlein’s disposal, in case a change of party group leaders is decided”, and makes it clear: “Now, and it will be up to us too, we need to find a unity of purpose” .

Benifei, did you regret your congress choice?

«I supported Stefano Bonaccini with the conviction that he was the most suitable candidate to speak to everyone, and to keep our party more united without renouncing renewal and clarity of proposals. After all, the members also said it clearly. Now we have the duty to lend a hand to the new secretary whom I know well and know how to be equipped for the challenge that awaits her. But there is a need for Bonaccini himself to remain on the field to be the protagonist of the new course as well».

Why did Elly Schlein win? How should this congress effect be exploited now?

«Because it managed to better embody the request for change that came from our constituents. If we look at the numbers, however, in reality, just over a million voters, we have to reflect. We have reached the minimum threshold, it can only be a starting point. And let’s reopen the membership immediately, I agree with you on this ».

And why did Bonaccini lose? Is the field of your supporters too wide, is your communication too weak?

«More than our particular mistakes, Elly was good at mobilizing. Now it is your responsibility, and partly ours too, to ensure that those who trusted us in the primaries return to the party ».

How does this new Democratic Party hold itself together? Do we need more agreements on the subject of internal organization, the presidency for Bonaccini, or programmatic convergences? Fioroni speaks of a party “too far left”..

«Elly and Stefano will discuss the organization, but it is clear that this new Democratic Party must be given shape immediately. There are Administrative and Regional at the door. Apart from the reactions of these first days, I think we need above all to send a message of unity, presenting ourselves as what we are: a progressive left party that knows how to govern and does not close itself in a small minority».

Even in his native Liguria, despite the two years ahead, there is talk of Regionals. What to do to get back to winning?

«Build the alliances needed to win and govern, but not isolate yourself in too narrow schemes and coalitions that have already proved to be losers in the past. Working, and I think this should be one of the tasks of the Bonaccini motion in the area, to also speak to the centrist world strong in our identity. Which does not mean seeking an alliance with Toti, on the contrary, but being more credible than him even with moderate forces and voters».

What problems could the fact that the primaries have overturned the members’ vote cause?

«There was a difference, that’s why there is a need to immediately find a unity of purpose, that’s why Bonaccini’s role in the party is important. He will serve to not make subscribers feel useless. But if we don’t want it to turn into a problem for the future, there is a need for members from tomorrow onwards to find sovereignty in the political choices of the national party”.

The party’s structures change, in Base Riformista there is already talk of dissolution: will the Bonaccini motion become the new reformist area of ​​the party?

«More than the political components, honestly, we need to find a way to make a newly reshuffled party work. The role of those who supported Bonaccini and represents 46 percent of the Democratic Party will be to support Schlein and find a synthesis between the ideality and the concreteness expressed by the two motions. What is needed to constitute a real alternative to this right and to a prime minister who remains silent in the face of the tragedies of the Mediterranean”.