Paolo Truzzu and Christian Solinas
Sardinia, Truzzu wrong candidate
Something has jammed in the engine of the centre-right and the numbers indicate that it is the candidate, namely Paolo Truzzu in place of the outgoing governor Christian Solinas. Let’s not delve into the jungle of numbers and give just one: Truzzu collected (1,822 sections out of 1,844, by the way congratulations for the unseemly spectacle of the delay) 327,000 votes (45%) against the 333,000 of the centre-right (49%) . How come? It is the effect of an all-Italian contraption resulting from Machiavellianism which sometimes allows the so-called “disjoint vote” meaning that one can vote for a list opposite to that of the gubernatorial candidate.
The difference of 4%, equal to approximately 6,000 votes, explains what happened. In practice, the centre-right voters voted for the coalition but not for its gubernatorial candidate, rejecting the agreements between the parties. A possible explanation is that some supporters of the League and Psd’Az did not vote for the centre-right gubernatorial candidate in the end. In fact, let us remember that the Psd’Az is a strongly identity-based party. But Salvini is obviously not to blame for this because he carried out a prolonged and generous electoral campaign and was the last to leave Sardinia.
Sardinia, Salvini was right to want Solinas
It will be remembered that Salvini’s candidate was Solinas and not Truzzu imposed by the Brothers of Italy. So Salvini was right but it is now too late and Sardinia is lost, albeit by a handful of votes. Furthermore, Truzzu lost sensationally, 34% against 53%, in Cagliari, where he is mayor and declared: “Cagliari voted against me. The responsibility for the defeat is mine.” So it is not a structural defeat but rather a tactical one which, however, sounds like a first alarm bell: centre-right voters do not like divisions, while the vote on the divisive Basilicata on 21 April is approaching, preceded by that in Abruzzo of March 10th. Yesterday’s defeat also leads us to reflect on the Zaia case in Veneto and on the question of the third mandate where there was a dangerous coup by FdI.
European Championships 2024 with the Zelensky unknown
And in view of the European elections there is another consideration to be made and it concerns the long term and that is the unconditional adhesion to the Atlanticism of the EU and the USA on the war in Ukraine. Zelensky is not at all loved in the Italian (but also European) center-right. Meloni necessarily had to support him because it was the condition for governing with the approval of Washington and Brussels but in view of the elections it is perhaps necessary to make a more realistic reasoning also and above all in light of the probable victory of Donald Trump, friend of Putin, who already said that he will not spend a single dollar to finance the defense of Europe.
Furthermore, Trump has always been ideologically in the same area as Salvini and – once upon a time – Meloni. If Cagliari was therefore a tactical defeat, Brussels could be strategic, but the European electoral system is a pure proportional system and for this reason there is an opportunity for the League to distance itself from Atlantic issues, which it is already wisely doing.