Wide shot, Italia Viva ends up outside the coalition in Liguria: “They asked us to withdraw our candidates”

Just a month before the Regionals in October, and the national clashes shatter the Ligurian field. After the tensions between the Pd and M5s on the RAI board of directors, whose repercussions at the local level led to the Grillino ultimatum on presenting the Renzians as a coalition, the coalition expected on the ballot paper for the next 27 and 28 October loses a piece. Italia Vivaafter weeks of negotiations on the formula with which to define his entry into the team, ends up outside the coalition and will not participate in the race. A decision passed by the national leaders of the Dem, as explained by Iv, who in some way made official a note from the national coordinator of Renzi’s party, Raffaella Shirt: “We are willing to make agreements with the centre-left but not at all costs”.

The turning point, which on the day of delivery of the final electoral lists has the contours of a small, large earthquake, came just when the square seemed to have been found. The Grillino ultimatum on Renzian’s presence in the coalition, which appeared above all to be an attempt by the M5S leaders to calm the fibrillations of the base in the wake of the remote tug-of-war on the Rai issue, should have simply led to some last-minute changes in the coalition’s reformist list . With the ongoing withdrawal of some names in quota IV, including that of the former Genoa municipal councilor Arianna Viscogliosi. The request received by IV, however, concerned the replacement of eight candidates. Too much for the Renzian leaders active in the Ligurian negotiations. And so it ended directly with Iv’s side step.

“In recent weeks we have offered maximum availability and worked generously to build a credible and reformist center-left in Liguria too – we read in the note with which Raffaella Paita announced the step aside – We have made ourselves available to overcome the vetoes of the past and even at the request of our allies we decided not to present the symbol of Italia Viva, joining a list with our friends from Più Europa and Socialisti. We have done everything to achieve the objective of a reformist presence in the centre-left. The agreements with the candidate Orlando and with the other parties led to the creation of the “United Reformists” list, related to Orlando himself as can be seen from the documents. The list is there and it is even already related. But in the last few hours, under pressure from the Five Star Movement, we have been asked to eliminate the affiliation or delete the names of some of our representatives from the list. And for us it is not politically serious.”

“We are willing to make agreements with the centre-left but not at all costs – continues Paita – And this must be clear for today and tomorrow. We are in favor of building a centre-left coalition also making a generous effort at mediation but for us – unlike others, as we have also seen in recent hours at a national level – dignity comes before seats. We can give up seats but we will never give up dignity. And to freedom. Given the tight deadlines, there is no longer time to build an alternative list. Italia Viva will therefore not participate in the Ligurian regional elections, leaving its voters and activists full freedom to vote, always having the future of Liguria at heart”.

In reply from Andrea Orlando comes a renewed call for unity. “One of the watchwords _ the Democratic Party parliamentarian and candidate of the broad camp says in a video on social media _ that I hear repeated most often when I go around, when I meet people in the squares, in electoral appointments is: unity. This is the appeal that comes from below, I want to convey it to the broad field, to its leaders who at the moment are experiencing moments of tension, of friction and I want to strengthen it not only because, I want to say it very clearly, we are heading towards an important round from the from an administrative point of view in Liguria, then in Umbria and in Emilia-Romagna above all, this is the fundamental point, because we are on the eve of a budget law that will affect the weakest sections of the population and will put its hands on pensions For this reason I am convinced that it is necessary for the barrier, the only possible barrier to the right at this moment, that is, the set of political and social forces that oppose the government’s policy, to be able to achieve the maximum level of unity. This was also the meaning of my candidacy and I hope that it is fully understood by everyone.”