Italian Elections and Politics 2018: Yellow Tide

[DC Al Fine]

Since we're discussing demographics of the post WW2 alignments, can someone give me a brief description of who voted for the following minor parties?

1) Italian Social Movement
2) Republican Party
3) Radical Party
4) Liberal Party

[DC Al Fine]

Thanks for the answers everyone. Very informative

[DC Al Fine]

Yeah, basically everything M5S's detractors had warned about is coming true. Which I, as someone who was genuinely hopeful about them being a force for good at least locally, find absolutely depressing.

Which was what (for the ignorant like me )?

[DC Al Fine]

I've seen a few people comparing the American left's response to Trump to the Italian left's response to Berlusconi when he was first elected. Tldr version is that the Italian centre left spent too much time preaching to the choir, which turned off potentially swingable voters and gave Berlusconi rhetorical ammunition, similar to how Clinton's "deplorables" remark backfired.

Two questions:

1) Is this description accurate?
2) What could the Italian centre-left done differently to defeat Berlusconi earlier?

[DC Al Fine]

Thanks for the info.

[DC Al Fine]

I'm trying to get a better handle on Italian politics. It seems like their politics don't line up as neatly as the divides in most of the West, and there has been a lot of churn the past few years. With that in mind could someone tell me what demographics are voting for:

Democratic Party,
Five Star Movement
Forza Italia
Lega Nord
Democrats and Progressives
New Centre Right
Brothers of Italy
Italian Left

[DC Al Fine]

Sorry for asking such basic questions, but...

Can someone explain the fault lines between Forza Italia, Popular Alternative, and Brothers of Italy, without using Wikipedia infoboxes?

[DC Al Fine]

I wonder, would PD actually reach a deal with Lega and Forza Italia? That way you could get a PD-LN-FI government and avoid M5S if they truly refuse to take part in any coalition.

Or is PD too far from LN?

Bleh.

The grandest of coalitions

[DC Al Fine]

Why has MSI/AN/FdL historically done so well in Lazio?

[DC Al Fine]

Also, ayy lmao at the left gaining in Milan.

I don't quite understand. Is this due to Berlusconi's disgrace, or is it sort of like if the Democrats made big gains in well to do suburbs while losing to Trump in a landslide?

[DC Al Fine]

This is why we need a M5S-Lega government right now. Preventing it means only delaying the inevitable.

That's what I never understood about using a cordon sanitaire. Making one's enemies into junior coalition partners seems far more effective at killing them than keeping them out of power.

[DC Al Fine]

This is why we need a M5S-Lega government right now. Preventing it means only delaying the inevitable.

That's what I never understood about using a cordon sanitaire. Making one's enemies into junior coalition partners seems far more effective at killing them than keeping them out of power.

I mean, the issue is usually what sorts of policy concessions you have to give them in order for them to join coalitions. Those often tend to be hard to swallow.

Also, you have Denmark as a major counterexample.

Not to be too snarky, but I'd suggest a large part of the centre left's decline was due to finding immigration harder to compromise on than selling out the working class.

That said, I forgot about Denmark. I was thinking if Austria and the UK.

[DC Al Fine]

So let's say there are new elections and 5 Star and Legs increase their majority. How does that change anything if the President won't accept their cabinet? It sounds like unless Italians suddenly elect an establishment government, there will be another impasse.

[DC Al Fine]

All of this seems rather dubious from a democratic point of view. "Hey, you didn't specifically campaign on this issue, therefore this potential cabinet minister can't join the government."

Of course this also feeds into the whole populist narrative that the mainstream supports democracy as long as you vote for the right people. And then - to add insult to injury - Mattarella names a former IMF employee as PM?

Plot twist: Mattarella is a deep cover mole working for the populists to make the establishment look bad.