ITALY’S centre-left opposition was last night plunged into chaos following the resignation of Democratic Party (PD) leader Walter Veltroni.
Last weekend, Mr Veltroni collected his fifth straight electoral defeat at the hands of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi when centre-left candidate Renato Soru was beaten 51 per cent to 42 per cent by centre-right candidate Ugo Cappellacci in elections for governor of Sardinia.
Just 16 months after launching a new, American-style PD that attempted to shift the main body of support represented by the old Italian Communist Party ever more to the centre, Mr Veltroni (53) would seem to be admitting this was a case of “mission not accomplished”. In the last year, not only has he lost a general election but he has also lost regional elections in Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Sicily and in Abruzzo, and the Rome mayoral election.
Mr Veltroni’s critics accuse him of having dealt a serious blow to the leftist opposition by his decision to run on his own in last year’s general election, breaking with traditional allies such as Rifondazione Comunista, the Italian Communists and the Greens. That decision had a doubly negative impact on the left. By going it alone in the autumn of 2007, Mr Veltroni prompted such tensions within the nine-party centre-left coalition government – then led by former European Commission president Romano Prodi – he may have contributed to its collapse last year.
Secondly, despite running an energetic campaign, Mr Veltroni’s PD party proved no match for Mr Berlusconi in last April’s general election, losing by 37.6 per cent to 46.8 per cent.
That contest marked a sea change in Italian politics in that the former hardline leftist allies (who had caused no small amount of grief to Mr Prodi) failed to win a seat in either house, leaving 1½ million voters without parliamentary representation.
Mr Veltroni’s electoral failures, his break from a grass-roots base and the growing sensation that electoral ally Italy of Values was providing a more vigorous opposition to Mr Berlusconi may all have combined to weaken his position.
One opinion poll, on the website of liberal daily La Repubblica, last night suggested that 77 per cent of voters on the left felt the PD needed new leadership, while 91 per cent rated the its performance in opposition as ineffective.