The Democratic Party is watching the polls with concern and fears it may fall below 18 per cent. The former prime minister is pushing for primaries as soon as possible, the Nazareno faction wants them as late as possible, and amongst the Democrats there are those who dismiss the party leader with the words: “Elly is absolutely awful.”

The former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies speaks out: “There is no left in Italy. The left is this, the centre is that, and the right is the other. Do you know what we need instead of primaries? A proper central committee – otherwise, ‘hic Rhodus, hic salta’.”

From Rutelli to Prodi, right through to Letta, the centre-left has often struggled to reconcile popular support, power and responsibility. In 2012, Bersani amended the PD’s constitution to open up the primaries to internal candidates as well. Turning them today into a contest between party secretaries would bring forward the proportional representation contest in the general election 

The leader of the Five Star Movement takes his allies to task: “There was no willingness to consider a third candidate, so we are now facing a leadership contest. Will it be divisive? That depends on us.” Baldino proposes Bersani as a unifying figure. Meanwhile, the former prime minister also says “no” to Bettini’s proposal to send weapons to Kyiv solely for defensive purposes.

FdI remains stable at 26.5 per cent, whilst the PD loses over one percentage point and the Lega gains 0.8 per cent. Furthermore, 51 per cent of centre-right voters would like the former general to join the coalition, whilst in the event of a primary between Schlein and Conte, the PD secretary would win. Polls for Sky Tg24

The leader of the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party secretary, despite their differences over Ukraine, harbour a certain degree of impatience towards one another. Proof of this is that their relations have been reduced to a minimum. The issue of the primaries