the Democratic Party sticks to Vannacci –

Giuseppe China

April 29, 2024

The paradox is so evident that it would force the Democratic Party to thank General Roberto Vannacci for having accepted the candidacy for the European Parliament offered to him by the League. The reason is soon to be said. In view of June, in Largo del Nazareno and the surrounding area, the only plan permitted to snatch a few more votes, due to the absence of a respectable electoral programme, consists in attacking head-on the soldier chosen by the leader of the Carroccio Matteo Salvini. Protagonists of the offensive were local leaders and caciques. Leading the battalion exceptionally, because the secretary Elly Schlein, persevering in her impalpability, has officially communicated nothing regarding Vannacci’s membership of the League, is the former leader Nicola Zingaretti. A circumstance dictated by pure electoral calculation, both are nominated by their respective parties in the Center constituency: the member of the Army as head of the list (and in all the other constituencies but not as number one) and Zingaretti in second position behind Schlein who, despite being elected very difficult will go to Strasbourg.

«I will challenge the general in the polls. He is the symbol of the right that ruins Italy. Vannacci states in an interview with Repubblica the former president of Lazio – we should ignore it”.

In the Democratic Party, however, it remains a cliché, pure rhetoric. Indeed, it seems that there is a queue to wear camouflage to challenge Vannacci in a political battle. The manifest hostility accumulated over the months was able to find an outlet, thanks to Salvini’s “complicity”, starting from last April 25th. For his comrades it was an outrage almost worthy of a court martial.

«The announcement of Vannacci’s candidacy by the League on the day of Liberation Day is a further slap from the right-wing government to the memory and anti-fascist values. Proud to carry forward in this electoral campaign ideas exactly opposite to his, wrote Democratic MP Alessandro Zan, candidate in the North West constituency, in a message on For the more forgetful readers, this is the MP who in May 2018 presented a bill on homotransphobia that never saw the light of day.

It was his faithful Chiara Braga who put a patch on the intermittent secretary Schlein who wrote regarding Vannacci: «He gives away pearls of racism in an interview in which he specifies that he has “ideals” which largely coincide with those of the League. In Europe – we read in a message on the social networks of the leader of the Democratic Party in the Chamber – we need real politics, not words that refer to dark times”.

In addition to an unprecedented compactness, Vannacci has triggered a viral short circuit in the Democratic Party. The post on the general’s official party account cannot be defined in other terms. In the message, in addition to specifying that “we will not mention his name”, voters and activists are invited to ignore him. It’s a shame that more than one user pointed out with wicked irony that this was the best way to advertise Vannacci. It goes without saying that the hashtag “#ignoravannacci” immediately became trendy, with the consequent result of producing tens of thousands of digital interactions. Will they be transformed into votes? Nobody can say. Meanwhile, the fact remains that the new candidate of the League has involuntarily accomplished the most difficult mission: to give a program to the Democratic Party.