The two-faced Salvini: Romeo is considering standing as a candidate if there is a secret ballot

He has more faces than Janus: Salvini, what a character! He’s a tough one. He heads to Veneto to have lunch with Alberto Stefani, but offers Zaia (whilst denying it) positions and gifts, and even the post of regional commissioner (a close ally of Stefani). He pushes through the little notarial deed that will soon remove the party’s symbol, but fails to mention that the voters have already taken care of that. They are already removing it from regional elections, and they are removing it from party events as well. It is even becoming tiresome to write about Salvini and this farce: the party congress convened to coincide with the Festival of the Regions. The decision to hold it on 24 and 25 October in Milan was made by Calderoli, the minister responsible for the regions. It would be as if Tajani were to convene the Forza Italia congress on the very days the NATO Assembly is taking place. The only positive development is that, before the (farce of a) congress, ‘Hidalgo’ Fontana and Max Romeo are expected to register the ‘Association of the North’, the umbrella organisation conceived by the united governors – Fedriga, Fugatti and Zaia. The project remains at the John Lennon, ‘Imagine’ stage. The other development is that Romeo – ‘Romy’ the partisan – is being asked to run as a candidate nonetheless, with the following mission: once he is a candidate, request a secret ballot.

At present, voting is conducted by a show of hands (the delegates are all Salvini supporters), but some wonder whether, in the secrecy of the ballot box, the outcome might differ when Salvini is not looking. Romeo asks: are we sure we can request a secret ballot? Are we sure the rules permit it? In Bossi’s day, party congresses were mass rallies and fistfights at the PalaTrussardi with all the party activists. To give Salvinov—the secretary who dreams of the Duma—his due, here are the words he shared yesterday in the Veneto region: “If anyone doesn’t take part, they’re making a mistake, because it will be a time for proposals and debate.” He’s right about one thing: Salvini does engage in debate. With Verdini.