The fact that over three million Italians took part in the first round of the centre-left primaries is a fact of indisputable political significance, which has already begun to make its effects felt even beyond the frontiers of the parties that organized them. It is no coincidence that yesterday demonstrations by citizens demanding the primaries took place around the headquarters of the PDL and, even, under the residence of Silvio Berlusconi in Rome. Of course, on previous occasions (indicated by Prodi and Veltroni) they went beyond last Sunday's participation. But in a country which had to resort to a caretaker government after the disasters of Berlusconi, and after many polls continued to report disaffection from politics, with strong temptations to abstain and grill, what happened two days ago signals an undoubted positive trend reversal. For this we can only give credit to the Democratic Party, which the primaries wanted with stubborn determination, and to Bersani and Renzi, who next Sunday will compete for nomination as a candidate in Palazzo Chigi, in the ballot.
Naturally all political mechanisms, including and above all the primaries, have their own intrinsic fragility. That is, they can break easily. And it would be a real shame if these last days of the electoral campaign were marked by a regulatory dispute, rather than a frank and even rough political confrontation. Of course, it shouldn't arouse particular surprise that Matteo Renzi, who must recover over 9 percentage points to win, tries to increase the number of participants in the match with new rules, while Bersani's supporters reply that the rules cannot be changed game in and for overtime. The fact remains that the question must be resolved immediately, because an tug of war on the rules of the game risks disappointing the voters, compromising what was positive that happened last Sunday.
The fact remains that, as happened in the first round, the outcome of the ballot is far from obvious. It's true Bersani has an advantage of almost 10 points and on paper he should be able to acquire access to that 15% tank more easily than his competitor, represented by Vendola's votes in the first round. But already in the first round Renzi showed that he is also able to get votes from the left. He won in the red regions, Emilia Romagna excluded, and, in his first outings after the first round, he addressed the voters of SEL with leftist words. Of course, the governor of Puglia has said that he considers the mayor of Florence a liberal and therefore, not accepting one of his statements, but he also added that he will have to win the support of Sel Bersani's voters, making him feel the "scent of the left".
Furthermore, the very first round demonstrated that in the primaries the weight of public opinion is stronger than that of the party and candidate apparatuses. In short, Bersani is the favourite, but the ballot is largely contestable by the mayor of Florence, who has so far given the impression that he is not at all uncomfortable with the people of the left. Yes, because during the electoral campaign Renzi (praise of the scrapping aside) was very careful not to leave the perimeter of the Democratic Party and, more generally, of the left. For example, he has ruled out alliances in the center with Casini, on the eventuality of which Bersani has been much more cautious.
We will see the results on Sunday and in the following days the effects that these will cause in a political framework increasingly projected towards the electoral deadline. For now, the Democratic Party and the centre-left have scored a great success in democratic participation, managing to bring politics back to the center of public debate among citizens, and thus helping democratic growth, after twenty years. Next Sunday's ballot could be a further step towards rediscovered democracy and politics.
