If in a few days Prime Minister Mario Draghi is elected the thirteenth president of the Republic, above all one will be the party leader who will be able to claim the role of royal king maker: Enrico Letta. Since the end of November, when the outgoing President Sergio Mattarella has made it clear that he is not available, the secretary of the Democratic Party is patiently weaving his web in the knowledge that his party, also due to the split of Matteo Renzi with the birth of the groups of Italia Viva, represents no more than 13 percent of the Parliament.
The canvas of Letta for Draghi and the internal axis with Guerini
“We cannot afford to find ourselves without Draghi either at the Colle or at Palazzo Chigi in a few months,” is the refrain. Arguments shared from the beginning in the party by Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini, also sensitive to the pressures of the US administration who see in the election of Draghi at the Quirinale the guarantee of the stability of the Atlantic axis for the next seven years. And Guerini is also the point of reference for the internal minority of former Renzians, very numerous in the Chamber and Senate groups. In recent days, the secretary has also managed to bring the internal left to the pro Draghi al Colle line, first the deputy secretary Giuseppe Provenzano and then the minister of labor Andrea Orlando. Leaving only Dario Franceschini, a handful of votes in Parliament. Of course, among the dem deputies and senators there are still many who still have resistance due to the risk of government instability, but in Largo del Nazareno they are convinced that internal dissent – in the event that the Draghi candidacy should finally emerge at the fourth or at the fifth vote – would remain limited to the physiological quota of snipers.
The common line with Leu and the fall of the vetoes of the M5s
Having secured the home front, Letta then managed to bring not only the leader of Leu and Minister of Health Roberto Speranza to the pro Draghi line, who distinguished himself in this from the “fathers” Massimo D’Alema and Pierluigi Bersani, but also Giuseppe Conte’s M5s. The president of the 5 Stars continues to have many reservations and to seek – at least apparently – alternatives (the latest card seems to be that of Elena Belloni, general director of the Security Information Department). But even among his followers, he is joined by Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, by the Speaker of the Chamber Roberto Fico and by the founder himself and Guarantor Beppe Grillo, all in favor of Draghi’s candidacy.
Conte and the internal game on the holding of the 5-star groups
Conte’s reservations seem to concern above all the resistance of the groups, terrified by the risk of early elections in the event that the square on the government and on the continuation of the legislature is not found. The case of Riccardo Fraccaro, who risks expulsion for having offered the leader of the Lega Matteo Salvini a stack of votes in favor of Giulio Tremonti’s candidacy, is indicative (“I Draghi will never vote for him”, clarified Fraccaro himself) . For this reason, Conte’s moves in recent days should also be read as an internal message: when and if it comes to having to vote for Draghi President, Conte will be able to tell his troops (there are about 230 parliamentarians still enrolled in the M5s groups) that he has tried in every way to close on other names: “But now all that remains is Draghi, and if he is not elected then we will all go home”.
The rediscovered dialogue with Renzi: no to center-right candidates
The last thread of Letta’s difficult canvas concerns Matteo Renzi, recently recovered in the center-left at least as regards the quirinal game: yes to Draghi as long as the government is secured with a “legislative pact” and an “institutional” premier , no to center-right area names that should come out of Salvini’s cylinder. While waiting for the internal confrontation in the center-right to be consummated (Giorgia Meloni is already for Draghi), the rest is parliamentary tactic: blank ballot in the first vote, the possible name of the founder of the Sant’Egidio community Andrea Riccardi as authoritative candidate of the center-left area if it were to arrive at the count in the Chamber.