Why Meloni is considering an election day in May

In the back-and-forth over the right day to hold the election, a new and probably decisive factor has come into play. On the right, as you’ve seen, there are many nuances and differing sensibilities, and the centre-right is trying, as far as possible, to muddy the waters. Will the vote be in May? September? October? November? Who knows. From all the chatter, however, a truth is beginning to emerge, slowly. Meloni wants to hold the election in the spring, on 8 or 9 May, even if it means combining local and general elections. It was once said that Meloni regarded this option as taboo: why hold an election on a date that traditionally brings large numbers of centre-left voters to the polls, mobilising them in the major cities where the vote will take place (Milan, Naples, Rome)? However, Meloni’s advisers have shown her another truth: are we really sure we want to hold the general election after the local elections, which – should the centre-left triumph in the major cities – could create the conditions for a self-fulfilling prophecy to take hold, conferring on the centre-left an aura of invincibility that might exceed reality? May: general and local elections. At the moment, the Prime Minister’s famous little red circle is marked there.

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