[ad_1]
Former Prime Minister Enrico Letta announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party secretariat, after thinking about it for a couple of days after explicit and insistent requests from the party leadership, which was left without leadership after the resignation of Nicola Zingaretti. On Sunday, the PD Assembly will vote on Letta’s candidacy, which is expected to be chosen by a large majority.
#iocisonoPD pic.twitter.com/IBWyXcaw5h
– Enrico Letta (@EnricoLetta) March 12, 2021
Following the resignation of Zingaretti, which came somewhat by surprise after weeks of harsh criticism and internal tensions, the PD had been forced to quickly resolve the leadership problem, at a time of general and recognized crisis in the split party in the opportunity for a stable alliance with the 5 Star Movement and involved in the delicate balance of a government with Lega and Forza Italia.
For this reason, the main leaders of the party, from Dario Franceschini to Andrea Orlando and Zingaretti himself, had turned to Letta, an internationally recognized and respected figure of human quality, who for several years had distanced himself from Italian politics and dynamics . of PD currents. His experience as head of government ended after less than a year in 2014, when Matteo Renzi replaced him with a move that is still quite controversial and criticized within the PD, and which at that time had the almost unanimous support of the party. Since then, Letta has worked in Paris as director of thethe Science Po School of International Affairs.
“Frankly, last Monday I would not have imagined that I would have been here today to announce my candidacy to lead the Democratic Party,” Letta said in a video posted on Twitter, adding: “I do it for the sake of politics, a passion for democratic values ”. Letta thanked Zingaretti, anticipating his speech in the Assembly on Sunday, asking delegates to vote based on his words and explaining that he wanted to open a dialogue about the future of the party in circles.
Some currents of the PD probably expected a different resolution of the leadership issue. In the last days, the former Renzianos of the reformist base and Matteo Orfini, for example, had spoken or at least alluded to in a congress with attached primaries for the secretary. Instead, it seems that Letta has set the condition to remain in office until the expected end of the term, in 2023. Based on the background, even the most critical currents should vote for him on Sunday, which at this point does not seem to have many alternatives . The president of Emilia-Romagna Stefano Bonaccini, who was considered one of the potential main candidates for the next secretariat, offered his support to Letta in recent days for “a new constituent stage.”
[ad_2]
