Miracle: Conte mentions a ‘third candidate’ and the Democratic Party factions vanish

In this tragicomedy surrounding the electoral law, it is not Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who performs the miracle, but M5S leader Giuseppe Conte. And not in relation to the secret ballot, but to the petal-plucking that is driving the PD’s finest minds to distraction (primaries, no primaries…). And so, mid-morning, Conte’s unexpected remark bursts onto the scene: “I have stated from the outset my willingness to agree on a third candidate apart from the party leaders, but I have found no openness to this approach”. The PD are taken aback: oh really? And the miracle unfolds: the members of the world’s most quarrelsome party, the Democrats, are in fact all in agreement. Against Conte, no faction can hold out. Let’s start with the Democratic Party’s vice-president, Chiara Gribaudo: “What matters to us in the PD,” she tells Il Foglio, “is building a coalition that wins the election. The way to choose the prime ministerial candidate is very simple: either we do it as we’ve always done, with the party that wins the most votes putting forward the candidate, or we hold primaries. We’ve always held the same position: we won’t change it for the sake of convenience.” Andrea Casu, the PD vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies’ Transport Committee, adds: “I don’t think the issue is about looking for other names; the PD already has its candidate.”

Even amongst the reformists, there’s no love lost for Conte. Senator Filippo Sensi says: “It seems to me that Conte’s insincere willingness to accept a third candidate is a way of discrediting the PD secretary. What is he telling us? That he would be prepared to step aside and that it is Schlein who wants the primaries at all costs because she wants Palazzo Chigi at all costs. Yet another of Conte’s unscrupulous antics, designed to pin on the PD the image of a ravenous party that only wants to get to power for personal gain rather than with a coalition in mind. He strikes me as desperate.” Among the ‘noble fathers and mothers’, Prodi-supporting Senator and former Under-Secretary Sandra Zampa is on the verge of snapping: “It seems to me that time has run out.” Former Senator Luigi Zanda is also sceptical: “Over the years, Conte has got us used to dramatic twists and a remarkable lack of scruples. First he said that the allies had to wait for the M5S to finalise its policy programme. Once that was done, he said, ‘we cannot meet on our own’. He’s been talking about primaries for months and now he’s pulled the ‘third name’ line out of his hat. He should therefore flesh out the proposal and say what he intends to do: is he withdrawing? Is he asking Schlein to withdraw?”. To Matteo Orfini, former president of the Democratic Party, the willingness Conte has been trumpeting “doesn’t ring true”, but something else does: “It was Conte who said it would be wrong to decide on the name of the prime ministerial candidate behind closed doors. In any case, not only is there no third candidate, but in any Western country this issue wouldn’t even arise, because the candidate for prime minister would be the leader of the party with the most votes. And Conte ought to know that: he has served as prime minister twice by virtue of this principle.”

Only one senior Democratic Party official offers a glimpse: “Perhaps the reasoning behind this possibility might be shared with Schlein, particularly by members of her majority, some of whom, over the summer, spoke out specifically on the issue of a third candidate.” Was Roberto Speranza referring to a partisan, or was there more to it? Who knows (today’s Democratic Party leadership meeting will have the final say).