our correspondent in Padua
It says Stefani, but it reads Zaia. Alberto Stefani, as expected, was the new governor of Veneto and won, passing the 64 percent barrier. It was known and imagined that his rival, the centre-left former mayor of Treviso Giovanni Manildo, would close the gap by thirty points, stopping at just over 30 percent. All confirmed.
What is not yet clear is how this challenge, entirely within the centre-right, between the once hegemonic League in the region, and the increasingly aggressive FdI, will play out. Up to 37.6 percent in the 2024 European elections.
At 15.00, when the polls closed, Youtrend had a slight lead with FdI: ranging between 24 and 28 compared with Lega which oscillated between 22.5 and 26.5 percent.
But Swg and then Eligendo, a platform of the Ministry of the Interior, saw another film and it was the right film: the League was at 35-36 in the middle, the FdI stopped at 19. The relationship was reversed, a kind of time machine and he was the one who started it, Luca Zaia, the Doge who left after fifteen years of Reign, was also pulled to and fro by his own people and bit the bullet on all sides. But he did not despair, on the contrary, in the end like an ordinary soldier he plunged into battle, running for leadership in all the provinces and giving Matteo Salvini, or in the evening he ran to Padua, a sensational success. “Salvini succumbed to death in a studied analysis – quipped the deputy prime minister, sitting next to Stefani – we are in good health. There is a lot of responsibility. I’m happy, it’s a wonderful evening”. And again: “The center-right were in a complicated moment, but they defended well and the points that the League brought home at the end of this regional were very valuable and beautiful.”
Zaia, on the other hand, did not reach the Crowne Plaza hotel, headquarters of the Northern League, he remained isolated, but did not escape. At 3:01 p.m., one minute after the polls closed, he called Stefani and praised her. In his own way, he envisions his tomorrow with less clarity, but with the certainty of remaining within the League’s perimeter: “We will go our own way, we have no enemies inside the centre-right, let alone outside. We are a party, a movement with a unique history”. Then he summarized his commitment: “I will definitely be in the regional council, I don’t know what to say in the future, but I will go to the regional council.”
Although he could run, in a by-election, for Stefani’s vacated seat in the DPR, or run in May for the seat of mayor of Venice. “It cannot be denied – Zaia concluded in a controversial tone – that if we had presented Zaia’s list, today we would have had more councilors to bring to Stefani and the strengthened center-right wing”.
Stefani, just 33 years old, is the new Territory President. Very close to Matteo Salvini, since last year he has served as one of the party’s deputy secretaries. In short, he is within the confines of the current leadership of the Northern League, while Zaia has long preached the German-Bavarian model, with two Leagues, to heal divisions and conflict.
The prodigy showed his humility from the stage in Padua: “I believe that in the next five years the people of Venice need a mayor of Venice, someone capable of listening to them, capable of dealing with the needs of our region in a pragmatic way, without controversy, without provocation, directly. The mayor is the mayor of all citizens and I will be the President of all citizens of Veneto”. Then Stefani rejected the first point of his program: “The first thing I will do as President is to establish a social department because there is a need to study the society of the future”.
Salvini hugged him: “This is great teamwork.” That’s a good reason to return to Rome full of pride. With the results consolidated.
The league, one step away from definitive data, is above 35 percent, FdI is below 16, Forza Italia is above the 6 percent line. But in rebellious and restless Veneto, there was also the performance of Riccardo Szumski, the anti-vaccine doctor, expelled from the Order, who entered the Council with an unexpected 5 percent.
