De Luca attacks Schlein and the national secretariat of the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, he is negotiating with Democratic regional councilors to modify the electoral law. He requests the possibility for mayors to run for office without having to resign.

At the Festa dell’Unità in Naples, held last week at the Terme di Agnano, Vincenzo De Luca, as often happens, stole the show. “If we had as many votes as there were rude people at this event, we would be the first party in Europe,” De Luca began in his speech on Sunday, October 1st.

The reference is to those “new leaders who believe that education is optional,” said the President of the Campania Region, directly attacking the area of Elly Schlein, who first came out as the winner of the national primaries and then decided to take control of the federation in Campania and Caserta. The decision of the new national secretariat was also driven by Fanpage.it’s investigation into the “Signori delle tessere” (lords of membership cards), which showed how the institutional representatives politically linked to De Luca used less than transparent means during the party’s congress and primary elections.

While the governor raises the stakes against Elly Schlein and the national secretariat, which includes the Neapolitans Marco Sarracino and Sandro Ruotolo, negotiations are reportedly well underway to modify the electoral law in Campania to allow De Luca to run for a third term.

“Who should decide the destiny of Campania? Some idiot sitting in Rome who doesn’t even have his mother’s vote?” De Luca said at the Pd party. A frontal attack with tones bordering on offense, and although he didn’t name anyone, the reference to Schlein’s secretariat and her leadership group came through loud and clear. At the moment, for the new course of the Democratic Party, there seems to be no space for De Luca’s reelection for a third term. However, bolstered by the support of the “lords of membership cards,” the President of the Campania Region is doing everything possible to secure his reconfirmation, even considering doing it on his own. Modifying the electoral law requires the approval of regional councilors, and that’s where De Luca’s plots originate.

According to what Fanpage.it learned, the negotiator with whom discussions have been initiated is regional councilor Massimiliano Manfredi, brother of the mayor of Naples, Gaetano. Behind him are the heavyweights of the Democratic Party in the regional council: councilor Mario Casillo and councilor Bruna Fiola, daughter of the powerful (reelected) president of the Chamber of Commerce of Naples, Ciro Fiola. The circulating draft provides for the possibility for the outgoing president to run for a third term, but it also includes two important modifications to the electoral law. The first is that mayors of municipalities with over 15,000 inhabitants should be able to run for regional elections, for all offices (president and councilor), without having to resign from their mayoral position six months prior. This significant modification would allow many mayors, especially in the province of Naples, to campaign for a regional council seat while still maintaining their politically inconvenient role as mayor of their municipality. This circumstance would clearly also apply to mayors in the provinces of Salerno and Caserta, where De Luca’s ranks still seem healthy. The second requested modification by Democratic regional councilors concerns the possibility for elected regional councilors to be appointed as assessors. This is currently precluded by the current electoral law in the Campania Region. If modified, it would give regional councilors significant power to demand a position in the government alongside the future President of the Campania Region.

Yes to a third term, but without the constraint of support.

The negotiations between De Luca and his circle and Democratic regional councilors in Campania have reportedly been ongoing for several weeks, with drafts of a new electoral law and political meetings to meet everyone’s demands. All this while the national secretariat’s responses only further close the door to any possibility of mediation, convincing Schlein and her circle that it is increasingly urgent to change direction in Campania for the party. Therefore, a fierce clash ensues, involving the Democratic regional councilors. On the one hand, De Luca identified them as the “bridge builders” to achieve a modification of the regional electoral law, but on the other hand, they cannot forget that they are still members and elected officials of the Democratic Party. While they claim to be open to dialogue with De Luca, they also try not to close any doors. According to what Fanpage.it has learned, the proposed agreement being negotiated between De Luca and Massimiliano Manfredi would only apply to the modification of the regional law and would not imply the current Democratic councilors’ support for De Luca in the election campaign. In other words, on the one hand, an agreement to favor the President of the Campania Region, and on the other hand, the possibility of always running within the ranks of the Democratic Party, in order to leave alternatives to a De Luca-led coalition that currently only sees civic lists and open dialogue with Italia Viva and Azione. Confirmations of the ongoing negotiations also come from other pieces of the center-left coalition, which could regroup after De Luca, through a unitary candidate who would bring together the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, and the Green–Left alliance. If this scenario were to materialize, there would be at least three coalitions for the upcoming regional elections.

One would be the united center-right, which has long had Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano as its candidate. Then there’s De Luca’s “coalition breakfast,” with a few pieces of the center-left, and finally the “classic” center-left with the Democratic Party, Five Star Movement, and Action. In this scenario, it is not difficult to think of the modification requested by regional councilors that would allow mayors to run for election without having to resign. This would also be convenient for the current Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, Massimiliano’s brother, who has already reassembled the classic center-left at the Municipality of Naples.

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