Left opposition in Italy defines until February who will challenge Meloni

Othe opposition parties in Italy, from the centre-left, announced today that they will prepare in November the programme for the legislative elections of 2027 and will hold primary elections by February to determine who will challenge Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“From next week onwards discussions will begin to define the coalition platform by the end of November”, said in a joint note the secretary of the Democratic Party (PD, Socialists), Elly Schlein, the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S, left populist), Giuseppe Conte, and the leaders of the Green and Left Alliance (AVS), Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni.

After a video conference meeting today, the leaders of the so-called “wide field” parties – the left-wing coalition that proposes to succeed Meloni’s current right-wing and far-right government majority – indicated that “the opposition forces represented in parliament, those who share the urgent need to build a government alternative, will participate in these negotiations.”.

“ In addition, we agreed that the primary will take place until the month of February, with the aim of making them a significant exercise of democratic participation, ensuring a leadership that has the full support of all forces of the progressive field ", added.

The primary to decide who will lead the left-wing coalition should sum up a dispute between Schlein, leader of the largest opposition party, and former Prime Minister Conte, who runs the second left-wing political force.

The most recent polls point to very balanced legislative elections next year, with the left wing coalition having real opportunities to beat the right wing, even though the Meloni party, the Brothers of Italy, continues to lead all the voting intentions.

Today, Meloni ruled out an alliance with the new figure emerging in the Italian far right, Roberto Vannacci, stating that he intends to be re-elected in 2027 to lead a government with the values of the present, but analysts anticipate many difficulties for the right-wing bloc to succeed in being renewed without including the new party created by the former general.

“I want to ask the Italian people to let me continue to rule without being blackmailed. I was never susceptible to blackmail, I did not allow myself to blackmail during my years in the government and I do not intend to do so in the future”, said the leader of the conservative nationalist party Brothers of Italy, who leads a government coalition that also integrates Force Italy (right) and League (extreme right).

Without deepening the reasons for dispelling an alliance with the new party founded by Vannacci, the National Future, Meloni implied that it has a too radical agenda.

Vannacci, a former general of the paratrooper forces who prides himself on serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, gained notoriety thanks to an anti-woke bestseller and became the new figure of the Italian far right, with his speech marked by criticism of migrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

Invited by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini to join the League after the success of his book, Vannacci assumed last year a vice-presidency of this far-right party, but in February this year decided to follow his own path and founded the National Future, which has been gaining popularity month after month.

Meloni’s current executive, sworn in four years ago, became last month the longest of the 80 years of history in the Italian Republic, marked by political instability – with constant executive changes, no less than 68 – but his renewal is far from assured, and Vannacci may become a key figure in next year’s elections.

According to the latest polls, the Vannacci party currently has close to 7.5% of the voting intentions, surpassing either Antonio Tajani's Italy Force (7%), or Matteo Salvini's League (5%), Meloni's allies.

Many analysts anticipate that, although Meloni maintains his popularity and the Brothers of Italy continue to head the polls, with about 27% of the voting intentions, the right-wing block is in serious danger of not reaching a majority without including the National Future, because the so-called left-wing field has been rising.

Recent polls indicate that PD can get 21%, M5E Stars 12.5% and the Green Alliance and Left 6%.

Analysts point out that if the “wide field” succeeds in attracting the centrist party Italia Viva, from former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, it will pass forward in the intentions of voting.

Although the current legislature does not end until October 2027, the analysts believe that the elections should take place in the spring or early summer of next year.