Letters
letters to the editor •
Behind closed doors, the parties do not wish to vote in a manner that would reduce their influence. What a surprise!
Who wrote to the editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa
16 JUL 26
Translated by AI
Photo: Ansa
To the editor – Did anyone really think that turkeys would vote to double the number of Christmas days?
Antonello Sassu
Asking the parties, by secret ballot, whether they want to have a little less influence, and then being surprised when, in secret, they say they don’t want to do so. What a surprise!
To the Editor – The majority’s defeat in the Chamber of Deputies on the amendment concerning preferential votes is a warning sign (from a friendly deity) of the calamities looming over the centre-right if the 2027 election is held under the Stabilicum system. Forewarned is forearmed.
Giuliano Cazzola
There are many MPs keen to practise taking penalty kicks, in anticipation of possible future extra time. However, I believe the electoral law will eventually be passed. And for that reason, they will be disappointed.
To the Editor – Dear Cerasa, the political situation in Italy is grave, but it is not serious. I regret having to resort to an aphorism by Ennio Flaiano that has already been overused. But it perfectly captures the parliamentary chaos and the disarray of the majority at this very moment. The Stabilicum will probably be passed in the end anyway. But the vote in the Chamber of Deputies clearly demonstrates that coalition-based bipolarism is based on electoral artifices and contrived alliances that guarantee neither governmental stability nor representation. The damage is now done. Alessandro Manzoni once said that ‘what comes next is not always progress’. In this sense, the author is convinced that, paradoxically, a true Second Republic could emerge – after more than three decades of a ‘bastard’ majority system – from a return to the first: a purely proportional system with a five per cent threshold.
Michele Magno
It would be a dream. But politics is the art of the possible, not of the ideal. And even the vote on preferential voting itself tells us a story of this kind. The PD stated that it favoured preferential voting. It claimed that the "Meloni-style" preferential voting was, in reality, only a partial preferential system. The result: had the PD voted for that well-known amendment, it would have secured at least 30 per cent of its candidates being elected. As it stands, there will be none. However, to address the issue, those who favoured preferential voting will now conduct primaries to select their MPs.
To the Editor – I have learnt that the repeat episodes of “Report” have been removed from Rai’s summer schedule. Investigative journalism plays an essential role in any genuine democracy, not merely one in name only. One may like it or not; one may agree with or challenge the conclusions of a programme, but democracy and freedom are safeguarded by guaranteeing the freedom to inform, not by curtailing opportunities for in-depth analysis. Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear from investigative journalism. And Italians are not naive viewers: they know how to distinguish substance from scheming, facts from exaggerations, and serious investigations from specious reconstructions. For this reason, the response can never be to restrict or undermine investigative journalism, but rather to counter facts with further facts. As Caio Julius Caesar once remarked, “Caesar’s wife must be above all suspicion”. It is a principle of public accountability that retains all its force to this day. If we wish to restore trust and hope to the nation, anyone holding positions of institutional, political, economic or media responsibility must feel the weight of this admonition, and choose and surround themselves with colleagues who can bear that weight. It is precisely those who believe in freedom who must defend the right of every publication and every journalist to carry out their work without fuelling suspicion of retaliation or intimidation. The task of determining any individual liability rests exclusively with the judiciary. Investigative journalism, on the other hand, remains a bulwark of transparency that must be protected, regardless of political affiliations.
Luca Sforzini, President of the National Renaissance Studies Centre