Do you remember the phrase “Molise doesn't exist”? Forget it. Instead, turn it intoMolise caput mundi”. Because for forty-eight hours, from Sunday 25 to Monday 26 June, Molise will be at the center of attention of all Italian politics. In fact, everyone, from right to left, is waiting to know the outcome of the Molise regional elections, which became yet another after the municipal elections a few weeks ago testing ground for parties on a national scale. And it is no coincidence that the big names of the main political forces, from Matteo Salvini to Antonio Tajani, from Elly Schlein to Giuseppe Conte, have flocked to Molise in person in the last few hours to support their candidates.
The regional elections in Molise
Sunday 25 and Monday 26 June in Molise will elect the new president and the new Regional Council. As on other occasions, voting will take place from 7 to 23 on the first day and from 7 to 15 on the second. Three candidates in challenge for the chair of president: for the united center-right there will be the former mayor of Termoli and former president of the province Francesco Roberti. For the centre-left, in coalition with the 5 Star Movement, the mayor of Campobasso Robert Gravina, the outsider is Emilio Izzo for the civic list "I don't vote for the usual suspects".
For Forza Italia the first elections after Berlusconi
For Forza Italia, those in Molise will be there first elections without Berlusconi. A test that will help to understand the strength of the party and which will officially mark the beginning of a new phase. “I have a very positive feeling,” said Antonio Tajani, during his electoral tour in Molise. “The latest nationwide polls put us at 12%, we are the second force of the centre-right, therefore the message that arrives is absolutely positive”, he added, underlining the surge recorded by the party after the disappearance of Berlusconi and the overtaking against the League which in turn, between Campobasso and Isernia, will have to try to make up for the lost ground against its coalition rivals, on pain of weakening even on a national scale.
Pd: test bed for Schlein
But the Molise elections will be "delicate" especially for the Democratic Party and its secretary Elly Schlein. After the Administrative debacle and the showdown a few days ago during the party leadership, yet another electoral defeat could damage Schlein's popularity, who has already ended up in the dock of the Democratic Party several times.
The secretary, for her part, is hoping for a possible success in Molise to reinvigorate the flame of the covenant and reiterate a concept expressed several times in recent weeks "We need a common ground of the oppositions". In this case, however, the word is in the singular, given that in this electoral round the Democratic Party will run alongside the 5 Star Movement, but without Action and Italia Viva (the latter, on the contrary, sided with Roberti).
