Elly Schlein first woman to lead the Democratic Party. Meloni: ‘A young woman can help the left look forward’ – Politics

Minimum wage, environment, work. And a warning: “We will be a problem for Giorgia Meloni’s government. We will make a contribution to organizing the opposition in defense of the poor, against a government that strikes them, we will be in defense of public schools when the government is silent in the face of a Squadrist aggression. We will stand by and barricade against any cuts to health care”. Elly Schlein improvises an almost programmatic speech by speaking off the cuff to her campaign committee following the announcement of her primary victory.

And the words he pronounced from the stage of Pazza del Popolo resounded like an echo, at the end of the political campaign, a sort of challenge to the premier: “I’m a woman, I’m not a mother – he said – But that doesn’t make me less woman”. Fair play on the part of the prime minister: “Congratulations to Elly Schlein and congratulations to the Democratic Party for the mobilization of its voters in the congress. I hope that the election of a young woman at the helm of via del Nazareno can help the left to look ahead and not back”. In her first speech as secretary, Elly Schlein thus outlined the lines of her Pd programme. “The democratic people is alive, there and is ready to get up with a clear line”. His voice breaking with emotion, Schlein celebrated: “We did it, together we made a small big revolution, they didn’t see us coming this time too”.

The outcome of the vote gives it a large but not overwhelming advantage over Stefano Bonaccini: 53.8% against 46.2%. An inverse relationship to that of the clubs, where the president of Emilia Romagna had won by 20 points: it is the first time that the candidate with the most votes among the members has not become secretary.

But the two challengers immediately wanted to underline that there is no risk of splitting: “I’m available to lend a hand,” said the president of Emilia Rimagna. “I send a warm greeting to Stefano Bonaccini – she replied – thanking him for the high and respectful confrontation we had. I thank Cuperlo and De Micheli, and their supporters, starting tomorrow we will work together in the interest of the country. We will work for unity , my commitment is to be everyone’s secretary, to get back to winning”.

Schlein’s victory was the least valued outcome on the eve. Then the high turnout in the primaries, which exceeded one million voters, slowly raised hopes among Schlein’s supporters of overturning the vote in the circles. Even in the light of the ‘turnaround’ between the result of the members and the open one of the primaries, the internal balances will not be easy to establish. As well as those with the other opposition forces. In the third pole there are already those who let us imagine a hemorrhage. “If the results of the Pd primaries are confirmed – the leader of the Senate group, Raffaella Paita, wrote on Twitter – the need in the country for a larger, more solid reformist house and a clear alternative to the populists will be more urgent than ever”. But Schlein is clear about the task that awaits him: “I thank the democratic people, a people who came together and answered the call. Now the responsibility and not betraying this trust and having the obsession to bring the many who have abstained in recent years.

The expectations for the new season of the Pd also focus on the ability of those who go to sit at the Nazarene to build a new team, to move on with the managers. Throughout the campaign, the two challengers reproached each other for the closeness or support of the various top exponents of the party, accused of the crisis of the Democratic Party which culminated in the last defeat, that of the September policies: Giorgia Meloni at Palazzo Chigi and dem al 19.1%. Whoever takes the reins of the party is called to demonstrate the sense of change already from the names. There are no roles and tasks already defined. But there are the intentions of Bonaccini and Schlein and the faces of those who have supported them in recent months.