It’s not just the Calenda–D’Amato row. The centrifugal effect of the electoral law on Azione

“Azione does not accept ultimatums from anyone. We have no intention of moving to the right, nor of kissing Bettini’s slippers for a council seat. We thank Alessio for his work over the years and wish him the success he deserves in the broader political arena,” wrote Carlo Calenda on X, referring to the party’s Rome secretary, Alessio D’Amato. In fact, just two hours after the tweet, speaking on SkyTg 24, the leader of Azione announced that D’Amato is no longer part of the party: “Still in Azione? No,” Calenda stated clearly, adding that he had already communicated the decision to the person concerned, following D’Amato’s comments to La Repubblica: “If Calenda veers to the right, I won’t follow him.” That same afternoon, the secretary of the Democratic Party announced: “I am very pleased that Alessio D’Amato is joining the PD. I am certain he will contribute to building an alternative to this right-wing government and to our efforts to save and improve the National Health Service.”

With the PD, yes, but not with Bettini, who is one of the party’s top leaders. There is therefore great confusion within Azione. But this Roman affair should not be dismissed as a mere local dispute, because it is a symptom of something deeper afoot. A centrifugal effect – not so much a side effect – of the new electoral law, which rewards parties that form coalitions. According to the latest polls, in fact, both the centre-right and the centre-left are exceeding the crucial 42 per cent threshold required to secure the majority bonus, and this means that Azione – Il Centro, which according to the latest ‘Porta a Porta’ survey stands at around 5 per cent – like the other centrist parties, for that matter – is no longer indispensable. Consequently, an increasing number of centrists are pushing for an alliance with either the left or the right. The first to make waves was Luigi Marattin who, at odds with the president of the Liberal Democrats, Andrea Marcucci – whilst he himself is the party’s secretary – is seeking dialogue with a ‘centre-right which – as he told this newspaper – is trying to move towards liberalism; that is no small matter’.

Among those pushing to align with the centre-left is, in fact, D’Amato. The events of the last few hours have added another chapter to the saga between the secretary of Azione and the former Democrat, which reached its climax two days ago over a dual issue that, in Rome, is effectively a single one: an alliance with the centre-left and Goffredo Bettini. In the pages of this newspaper, D’Amato had taken a different line from his secretary precisely on the issue of supporting Roberto Gualtieri’s bid for a second term as mayor of the capital, playing down Calenda’s statements, which had been very clear: “No alliance”. Zingaretti’s former regional councillor, however, had softened his tone, pointing out that he had been working for almost a year towards a possible alliance and stating that, should talks take place with Gualtieri, Azione “would certainly not fail to contribute to the formulation of a programme for the city of Rome”.

The disagreements came to the fore when Calenda described the long-standing leader of the PD, Bettini himself, as “one of the great evils of the left”. D’Amato then felt compelled to rush to the defence of his former colleague with a strongly worded statement: “Debate, even the most heated, should never descend into personal attacks. When that happens, it means we have all lost out a little”His leader, speaking again on SkyTg 24 whilst emphasising the distance between himself and Bettini, did not rule out dialogue with the current mayor of Rome: “Let me be very clear: Gualtieri is doing some things well; others I would have done differently. In my view, he is someone with whom we must be able to engage in dialogue. With Bettini, it’s a different story altogether. We’ve never had anything to do with him and we don’t want to have anything to do with him.” The first effects of Calenda’s decision are already being felt: the former president of the Lazio Regional Council and MEP, Guido Milana – until today a national leader of Azione – has in fact decided to leave the party: “I’m not staying a minute longer in a party that makes decisions via tweets,” he stated on his Facebook page. 

A situation similar to that of D’Amato occurred just a month ago involving Giacomo Leonelli, former secretary of Azione per l’Umbria and currently sole director of Adisu, the Agency for the Right to University Education. On 9 October, Leonelli had indirectly responded to Calenda by writing in X that “the secretary still declares ‘never with the broad coalition’. In the vast majority of towns and regions, Azione governs or has been allied with the centre-left. It is therefore appropriate to consult members and administrators in a formal consultation on this stance of outright rejection’. Following his remarks, Calenda stated that Leonelli was not a member of Azione and had spoken on his own behalf.

However, this dichotomy between the centrist national stance and the various local agendas is causing some difficulties for local administrators when it comes to being accountable to their constituents. This is precisely because, at local level, alliances between individual branches vary. Lorenzo Mazzanti, the new commissioner for Azione in Umbria – appointed following Leonelli’s new role – explains, in an attempt to untangle this complicated situation, that the party line is more or less clear: “At national level, we are all firmly aligned behind a centrist list. Whereas, both in the past and in future decisions, at local level we are given considerable leeway for individual representatives to make their own decisions. I am thinking of our region, where we have entered into agreements with the centre-left.” The same approach has been adopted in some major cities such as Genoa and Perugia. Commenting on Rome, Mazzanti – whilst describing D’Amato’s actions as a “rush forward, a risky move” – remains convinced that “the agreement with Gualtieri will eventually go ahead, but it has not yet been finalised”. Among those looking to the centre-left is also the Campania group of Azione, which supports the broad coalition in the region. Indeed, the former regional secretary, Giuseppe Sommese, recalled how his group had worked alongside the centre-left for five years during the previous council term and “therefore, at the last regional elections, the majority of councillors decided to make the same choice again in full knowledge of the facts, whilst maintaining cordial relations with the party”. 

However, amongst the local branches of Azione that would not be averse to an agreement with the centre-right, the Piedmontese branch certainly stands out. Just two weeks ago, the regional secretary Daniela Ruffino, responding to the liberal appeal by Forza Italia’s governor Alberto Cirio, told Il Foglio that “dialogue in the Regional Council is by no means complicated and there is considerable common ground in Parliament too. ‘It is on the basis of liberal principles that we are seeking allies, and we are open to dialogue.’ In Calabria as well, judging by the tone, there are Calendian supporters pushing for an alliance with the centre-right, such as Marco Lombardo, a Calabrian senator from Azione, who, speaking to Il Foglio, said that “Occhiuto is governing well; he has provided a much-needed shake-up. And we are interested in his approach within Forza Italia.” Regional secretary Francesco De Nisi shares this view: “We will engage in dialogue with everyone: with the more liberal wing of the centre-right and with the reformist wing of the centre-left,” the senator concludes, “but it is a fact that the former carries far more weight than the latter.”