WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PD PARTY?

Geber once said: “A communist was made because they were rich but loved people”. This statement represents the Italian democratic political party (PD).

On the last 25th of September, the “dem” lost the elections to Giorgia Meloni, head of the right-wing political party. The PD lost due to the very low votes that they received: less than ever.  This has led the PD to a state of confusion and the decision of electing a new secretary following the resignation of Enrico Letta.

The centre-left wing political party PD was born in 2007 from the union between the “Democratici di Sinistra” and the “Margherita”. Since then, the PD has nearly continuously led Italy. In these 9 years of power, the internal organisation of the PD has undergone a mutation: from a party based on principles of opposition, it is now based on an idea of responsibility.

This has drained the identity of the political party: associating it with a more exclusive party. For this reason, it has by many ironically been defined as the “Partito della Ztl” to describe how it is restricted only to certain selected people. This, together with the lack of satisfaction from the people, were probably two of the major reasons why the PD lost. Some redeem this is due to the absence of Renzi and internal issues.

On the 4th of March 2018, the political party “Movimento 5 Stelle” wins the elections. The so-called “grillini” is the term used to describe the followers of the party, opening the season of Italian populism. The movimento 5 stelle won by adopting measures satisfying both the political and the social side, for example, by recognising the Reddito di Cittadinanza. The difficult and confusional state of things led to the resignation of the dem leader Nicola Zingaretti. In his place, Enrico Letta was elected and remained head the secretary for four years.

The electors decided to vote for Giorgia Meloni not because they didn’t agree with the PD program, but rather due to the discrepancy between their statements and their actions.  As stated by Letta, this should raise several questions within the political party. However, analysing the votes that the party received, the political party seems to have received the most votes from electors aged 18-34 years.

As stated by Francesco Piccolo, “This is a world made by young people that are more interested in the problems of the centre-left political party than the latter”.

The dem find themselves between the Movimento 5 Stelle and Renzi-Calenda, where the major dilemma is whether it is better to renovate the party with a new secretary or the death of it.

It is time for the PD to decide what they want to be, and no wrong answers are allowed.

Author: Antonino Arena.