Italian Elections and Politics 2018: Yellow Tide

[Barnes]

I'm going to be in Florence this May, so hopefully I'll see Emperor...President...PM...Renzi around!

[Barnes]

I'm going to be in Florence this May, so hopefully I'll see Emperor...President...PM...Renzi around!

Well, he's probably staying in Rome these days... Though I (with Hash and Zanas) went to Florence back when he was Mayor.

Oh yeah, but I thought it was kind of amusing to share!

It'll be my goal to find someone politically important to meet - when I was in Berlin a while ago, I drove past the CDU headquarters, but alas no chance to stop.

[Barnes]

Well, I stopped in the PdL Tuscany HQs (yes, they exist there!) in 2012 because the father of two of my friends was an MP at the time.   You can obviously find regional party offices in Florence.

That a very doable idea - thanks for the advice. And I suppose PdL has to make an appearance at least!

[Barnes]

Has there been much development in the presidential race?  Anyone emerging as Renzi's favored pick?

[Barnes]

Thanks for the update, Antonio!  I'll be in Italy in a few weeks, so it's good to know the political situation there!

[Barnes]

Any updates on the progress of the Italicum?

[Barnes]

Personally, I would say that any deal that removes the Senate's power on confidence is a good deal - including retaining direct elections.

[Barnes]

The Senate is a terrible, terrible institution so this is good news.

As far as upper houses around the world go, it's one of the worst!

This is very good news.

[Barnes]

Indeed. A great day for Italian democracy.

Now, only three more parliamentary passages, followed by a referendum, and then we'll have a governable country.

We're still talking about Italy, after all.

[Barnes]

Oh good, of course Renzi was never actually going away, but it's nice to see him return in triumphal fashion.

ofc renzi itended to return but since he connected the referendum with his own persona, it was necessary to get a new "mandate" of his own party....after all no one has voted for renzi until now directly.

Exactly. He staked so much of his own political capital on the referendum that he had to follow through with at least the motions of resigning to avoid being further damaged.

[Barnes]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but does this mean Renzi is headed back to the PM position?

Not in the short term at least. Now that he's been re-elected Chairman of the PD with such a mandate, he's certainly the most powerful man in the country. However if he can successfully win next year's election, he'll have quite an authoritative claim on the office as opposed to forcing a PD government to resign again to make way for him during this term.