Sardinia is familiar to many Germans and is a wonderful place to vacation. And many Italians also feel a certain emotion when they talk about the island in the west: it is something special.
Now Sardinia is also the place from which a change in trend in Italian politics could come. “Sardinia punishes Meloni,” headlined the Roman newspaper La Republica, but it also works the other way around: the Sardinians rewarded the political left for finally being largely united. She took back the first region in the regional election with a wafer-thin margin of 45.4 to 45 percent. And what’s more, the island has its first woman at the top of the administration, Alessandra Todde.
Since Meloni took office, the left has forgotten how to win
For a year and a half, since political newcomer Georgia Meloni and her post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia won the parliamentary elections and formed a coalition on the political fringe, the left has forgotten how to win. Meloni settled into power and the country seemed to come to terms with the shift to the right. On the one hand, this is because the young Prime Minister uses clever tactics and gains a profile in foreign policy; but also because the opposition is notoriously divided. While the three right-wing parties, despite all their differences, put forward common candidates in the many regional and local elections held throughout the year, the opposition usually does not come together.
Not even its largest party, the social democratic Partito Democratico, is united behind the young, activist leader Elly Schlein; After one year in office, she is already considered counted. The other major left-wing and liberal parties, in turn, are led by highly ambitious men who seem to be primarily oriented towards their own success and who certainly don’t want to do one thing: subordinate themselves to Elly Schlein, even though her party is clearly number two behind in the political structure Meloni’s brothers.
Men who don’t want to subordinate themselves
In Sardinia, the Social Democrats have now given in and given the post of top candidate to the Five Star Party of former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, which is only half as strong. With Alessandra Todde – after Meloni and Schlein – another woman has made the leap to the top in the traditionally male-dominated Italian politics.
And again it is a person with an interesting CV. The 56-year-old entrepreneur, founder and manager has extensive international experience. She was state secretary in the Conte government and deputy minister under Mario Draghi and enjoys the respect of economic liberals. But it also covers traditionally left-wing topics: the fight for anti-fascism and against the shift to the right in the country.
Center-left candidate and election winner Alessandra Todde.
(Photo: Lapresse/dpa)
Of course there is talk of a regional vote, an island with 1.6 million inhabitants where only half of those eligible to vote even voted. But it was the first defeat for the Meloni camp, which had been so used to success. And of all places on the island that is linked to the former leader of the right, ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had a well-known villa here.
A bitter defeat also for the right-wing populist Matteo Salvini, who, coming from the north, wants to permanently anchor his Lega throughout Italy and has now landed at just under four percent. But above all a defeat for Meloni, who had pushed a loyal companion to the top of the joint list and now has to be responsible for his failure.
In Sardinia, what Meloni’s critics have been saying for a long time has been confirmed: Italy is not necessarily right-wing in majority. If the opposition learns from the experience of Sardinia, things could soon become less comfortable for the Meloni camp. It is said that there was already a lot of rumbling between the coalition members behind closed doors. The next regional elections are coming soon, and then those for the European Parliament in June.