The two cronies, Boccia and La Russa, set a trap for Meloni over the electoral law

La Russa and Boccia appear as two characters from Pirandello, Ignazio and Ciccio, and the play is "La Trappola". The electoral law risks being trapped in a deadlock. The Senate is voting on the amendment regarding preference votes, but La Russa allows the opposition to table sub-amendments, and the opposition is calling for preference votes to be extended. Boccia, the first of the pair, comments: “Does Meloni want preferential votes? You’re welcome. Let her show some consistency. Let’s do away with the fixed list leaders. But will Forza Italia and the League agree?” Why, then, did La Russa, the second of the pair, agree? Boccia adds: “Let’s just say that La Russa is a democratic president.” The electoral law, it seems, has spun out of control.

It is clearly what is known in politics as a parliamentary trap and could ultimately even lead to snap elections. If the opposition backs the preferential voting system – a battle for consistency championed by Meloni – and FdI backs down, what will be the outcome for Meloni? Says Boccia, her close ally: “She’ll lose face. She’ll come across as inconsistent.” Or? “She’ll start from scratch, reopening the agreement with Tajani and the League.” Or? “Or she’ll stick with the Rosatellum, the law that would still allow her to break the deadlock. For Meloni, it’s better to vote under the Rosatellum but not to say so.” But how did this ‘trap’ come about? Associate number one, Boccia: “Politics has no place for amateurism. Let’s just say that in the summer, when everyone was under their beach umbrellas, I…”. And Ignazio… A crisis meeting is called at Via della Scrofa in FdI. We stop the chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Andrea De Priamo of FdI. Chair, but why did La Russa allow the sub-amendment? De Priamo replies, "No idea." One might argue that, in theory, the move was dictated by the rules, given that the second man is the President of the Senate; at this point, PD Senator Alessandro Alfieri is unbeatable: "La Russa and the rules? Who, La Russa—the most politically incorrect president in Italian history?" This is where suspicions begin to surface.

La Russa had proposed a run-off alongside Marcello Pera, the philosopher who doesn’t wear a colander on his head: “I’m not going to be the hero. If there’s an agreement, fine; otherwise, I’ll withdraw.” Let’s go and find De Priamo again. President, is it true that Boccia’s cunning has put you in a difficult position: how will you vote? “We’re considering it.” The Meloni–Tajani–Salvini agreement is set in stone regarding the lead candidates, and calling the lead candidates into question is tantamount to calling the entire law into question. Achille Totaro, a figurehead of the right in Tuscany, a former FdI senator – the sort of person who would reply to Vannacci: ‘But who knows you? Who’s ever seen you on the right?’ – acknowledges: ‘The left have done well. So, when’s the vote, then?”. Comrade number one, Boccia – who is, in fact, the architect of the trap (the amendment is signed by Nicola Irto) – suggests looking to Vannacci: “Meloni won’t strike a deal with Vannacci; she’d rather die on her feet, in the name of consistency. Salvini and Tajani, on the other hand, might even form an alliance; they’re two lame ducks who can still get about – they can, but Meloni can’t. And she’ll lose.” The first to realise this was supposedly the second man, La Russa, annoyed that Tajani and Salvini were treating him like a nagging old uncle. Except that the second man, Boccia, comes to his rescue: “Ignazio’s been in politics for forty years.” It is as if they were walking arm in arm, except that with every step they take, the law dries up and changes colour.

The threshold remains at 42 per cent (they had tried to lower it to 41 per cent); there is no agreement with Forza Italia on the anti-splinter group rule because the latest fantasy on the right might be: what if we put forward lots of decoy lists to stop Vannacci? It started with stability, then a deadlock, and finally fear set in – the feeling that perhaps the best law is still the Rosatellum. One of the lads, Boccia, recalls: “All Meloni cares about is coming first, if only to be able to say, in the name of consistency, that she won’t form a government with Vannacci. She risks ending up in opposition and playing second fiddle to Vannacci.” And what of Ciccio and Ignazio? They know the virtues of a hung parliament, of governments formed through backroom deals and informal talks. Some critics label it a ‘political shambles’, but it is more accurately described as ‘the tangle’ – the snare that leads to the intertwining. They are cronies and today resemble those two farmers Pirandello captured in an image: ‘United by an ancient rivalry transformed into emulation, they live in perfect parity, supporting one another even through their respective families, who grew up in the same courtyard’.