POLITICS, THE ITALIAN MALAISE

Affaritaliani.it : "They all drop, the only things that grow are nausea and non-voting, the only winner Matteo Salvini. And it is he, the other Matteo, the one with the earring (as opposed to Matteo Renzi, the PM), the new phenomenon of Italian politics. The day after the limited regional vote, in spite of partisan interpretations, like it or not this is the news."

I'm puzzled by this. Salvini (of the Northern League) gets 19% of the votes in Emilia Romagna region and ZERO in Calabria, however he is hailed as the new political phenomenon.

Renzi, leader of the Centre Left, receives 44.5% (49% coalition) in Emilia Romagna and 23.7% (61.4% coalition) in Calabria, yet he is the great loser.

Salvini, like Farage in the UK, continues to drum up the populist discontent with immigration, or rather with the influence of foreigners, the waves, tsunami of foreigners who steal jobs from the natives. But where are these jobs?
Banking scandals, the great industrial frauds, the tax-evading entrepreneurs, the money missing from the very people who make money... surely these are the more pressing topics? Downsizing the political machine, helping the young in the property ladder and finding jobs. Maybe if we concentrated a bit more on these...

Renzi is not perfect, like anyone who would enter that role he is reined in by the various factions that are led by 'public servants' scared of disappearing after the long awaited political reforms.

Many words are wasted in the press, recycled by politicians, but nothing tangible is taking shape, no trace of change.

Few have voted, in fact it was the lowest turnout on record, 37% in Emilia and 44% in Calabria, but the Centre-left coalition reaps 1.1m votes of the 5m available... the truth is that the Right stayed at home. And considering they're the ones in opposition with the task to change government, it seems to me they're happy with the current Prime Minister, so why not let him get on with the reforms anyway, otherwise Italy will not come out of this crisis.

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