The Italian Democratic Party convened yesterday its national executive, tasked with setting the rules to designate the next Party secretary and prime ministerial candidate.
The session, however, ended without a vote after a harsh dispute between internal factions threatened to go out of hand.
Some factions want the secretary and the prime ministerial candidate to be the same person, while others don’t.
Similarly, some factions want the secretary to be elected by Party members, others by all the citizens eligible to vote according to the model of U.S. primary elections.
There is agreement only on the fact that the prime ministerial candidate will be chosen by primary elections.
The real question is: can such a fragmented party be able to compete against the right and the Five Stars Movement, ruled with an iron fist by Mr Berlusconi and Mr Grillo respectively ?
Italian Insight 