Letta resigns as social democratic leader after criticism of her strategy of not agreeing with the 5 Star Movement

Enrico Letta, general secretary of the Democratic Party (PD), decided not to appear on Sunday night.

It was late, and the result too confusing for urgent analysis.

Professor and student of politics, the leader of the Italian Social Democrats waited until the next morning.

His match had slightly improved the results obtained by Matteo Renzi in 2018. But there was no reason for joy.

They became irrelevant.

And, above all, it became clear that if he had not given up forming a coalition with the 5-Star Movement, he would have been able to configure a competitive electoral device.

The problem, however, goes back a long way.

The PD, since its foundation in 2007, has juggled to stay in power.

Like unicellular organisms,

the only thing it has achieved is to reproduce itself ad infinitum through the split.

Again, their leader will resign.

Letta announced at a press conference that she will convene a congress and will not appear again: "My leadership will end there."

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Last minute of the elections in Italy

The PD has not obtained a bad result (19%).

It will be the main opposition force.

But the bleeding of the single-member option on the ballot papers has been tremendous, even in places like the center of Rome or Livorno, the impregnable bastion of the left.

The crossing in the desert that awaits him will increase even more the wear and tear that he has suffered in recent years and that Letta tried to correct with a profound renovation of the party.

On Monday morning, with clearer ideas, she appeared before the press.

“We go to the opposition with great determination.

We will make a tough and intransigent opposition.

We will not allow Italy to leave the heart of Europe, where it is right for it to be.

We will not allow Italy to separate itself from European values ​​and from the constituent values”, she proclaimed.

Letta will be criticized for her inability to reach agreements with allies.

The Italian electoral law, a mix between the mixed and the proportional system, greatly rewards coalitions forged

.

Being fully aware of this, the PD secretary did not want to agree with the M5S.

“If we have reached the Government of [the leader of the Brothers of Italy, Giorgia] Meloni from the Draghi Executive, it is because of Giuseppe Conte, who brought it down,” he said, justifying his decision.

“Many parties have worked against us and not against the right.

The result does not satisfy us, but we are the second party in the country and the second parliamentary group”.

The Italian left does not find its place on the Italian political scene.

For more than two decades, the progressive spectrum has been slowly dying.

Matteo Renzi, whom many did not even consider to really belong to that orbit, constituted a strange parenthesis with his prosperous Government.

But he hadn't even won the election.

His rise to power was the fruit of another palace game to which the left has become accustomed in recent years in order to maintain its power.

Even if it was at the cost of appearing to his electorate as an increasingly unfriendly force attached to the carpet of the halls of Rome.

The last Social Democratic candidate to come out of the polls was Romano Prodi in 2006, when he set up the great coalition that he named Olivo.

Since then, all the adventures of the PD have gone through post-election strategies.

Now the party must speed up the rejuvenation of its ruling class, which has already begun with Letta.

When the congress is convened, it will look to emerging figures such as the vice president of the Emilia Romagna region, the popular Ely Shlein (the international press insists on comparing her to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).

But it will also be necessary to reformulate the message, the strategy and the future alliances.

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