Schlein and Conte are at loggerheads, and the PD fears an alternative candidacy.

The tension between Giuseppe Conte and Elly Schlein shows no sign of easing. Quite the contrary. By now, the two – setting aside their differences over Ukraine – harbour a sort of impatience towards one another. Proof of this is that their contact has been reduced to a minimum, just enough to keep the alliance afloat. Otherwise, they barely speak to one another.

To illustrate the state of relations between the leader of the Five Star Movement and the secretary of the Democratic Party, one need only look back a few days, to 12 September. Last Saturday, in fact, the limelight at the Festa dell’Unità was entirely on Conte, flanked by the PD president Stefano Bonaccini. An evening debate, the usual questions, the usual answers from both. But the Democrats’ concern was not so much about what the former prime minister might say – given that he spouts one outrageous claim after another every day to put Schlein in a tight spot – as about the reception he would receive from the festival-goers. So, at a certain point, a message appeared on the mobile phones of the young Democrats who were following the Conte–Bonaccini duo. One of those messages that disappear once opened, so as not to leave a trace. And what did that little message say? ‘Don’t applaud Conte.’ He, however, had his own Five Star Movement cheer squad below the stage and so received thunderous applause all the same. Even the ‘Elly Elly’ chant that broke out after the debate between the Five Star Movement leader and the PD president had, of course, been organised. All measures were aimed at ensuring that the former prime minister did not overstep the mark by trying to poach voters from the Democratic Party as well.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Onorato’s troubles continue. The Rome City Council councillor publicly maintains that collecting signatures is not a problem for him and that, on the contrary, it could be an excellent boost for his still little-known Progetto Civico. In reality, however, the threshold of signatures required for anyone not currently in Parliament to stand for election is almost insurmountable. For this reason, Conte is continuing to press for PD and AVS allies to lend some of their MPs to form a sub-group within the mixed group aligned with Progetto Civico, so as to significantly reduce the number of signatures needed to stand. Onorato, however—stung by the fact that he was not invited to the Festa dell’Unità, unlike Matteo Renzi—is convinced that the Democratic Party will not make life easy for him…

Turning back to Elly Schlein: the secretary of the Democratic Party continues to insist that the only candidates in the broad-based primaries should be herself and Giuseppe Conte, and she is convinced that Avs will ultimately favour her. Still on the subject of the PD secretary, someone within her party has mischievously observed that, given the Congress has now been postponed until a date to be confirmed, the leader should have called a meeting of the Executive Committee and the National Assembly to approve the extension of her term of office (which is due to expire in March) as early as last Sunday. That is what the rules would require, argue Schlein’s internal opponents, “all the more so as the secretary has in mind to secure an extension of as much as a year”. Some, in an attempt to disrupt her plans, claim that at this stage there will be those in the forthcoming national assembly (because it is bound to take place) who will try to change the rule stipulating that the PD has only one candidate in the primaries, namely the secretary. The spectre of a possible alternative candidacy to Schlein within her own party serves only to influence the leader’s moves and to make her realise that a secretary whose term has been extended, as she is, cannot afford the luxury of deciding everything on her own as she has done so far.