Only the specter of Russian interference in the Italian democratic process was missing to shake the waters of a "sui generis" electoral campaign, very poor in content and, for this very reason, not very attractive in the context of the dynamics that regulate, or should regulate, inspiration to vote. But, on balance, and considering the Italian party situation in recent years, is it really a concrete, tangible, current and, above all, decisive danger?

Is the potential and / or ideal interference of the Russian government in the context of the Italian elections really worrying ? Or is it rather one of the usual ploys to try to "get rid of" a "right" that it would like to propose to be, but, to be honest, it seems to greatly lack precisely those elements of renewal of a political thought that should aspire to "progressivism" in order to relive in the democratic circuit while respecting its pregnant values?

Beyond the answers that each of us wants to mature in the depths of our consciences, and / or the likelihood of the concerns mentioned above, if we wanted to fully understand the dynamics, even perverse, that regulate electoral processes in their complexity, we will not be able to deviate from some general reflections.

Meanwhile, the one for which not the Russians in particular, but rather the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to exacerbate the eternal struggle between "democracy" and "authoritarianism" , in the context of which, the various state and para- variously "authoritarian" states have been able to field "tools" of various types, even of an economic nature, useful for destabilizing and weakening the democratic forces of the system. Therefore, the one for which the attention to the probable or unlikely foreign interference, which has progressively increased due to the need to find a justification for the inability of the current Western democracies to cope with the "changing" structures of world power, ended with the to represent only the pale reflection of a decoy, sickened by the wear of time.

Finally, the fear that "foreign players", or rather some of them, could affect the mechanisms of national power management of individual Member States of the Union, transforming the salient characteristics of liberal democracies into de-qualification factors , it would seem, ended up being used by our own political contradictors to give substance to an electoral message too lukewarm and inconclusive to be able to break the "wall of silence" of the electoral body.

Let's be clear: first of all, none of what is represented should leave us dumbfounded if we pause to reflect on the decline that for several years has affected Western democratic paths for having been, and being today, those same paths, devoid of the charismatic leadership guide suitable for interpreting them; secondly, it has never been a mystery to anyone that the Russian elite gathered around the ruling and imperative figure of Vladimir Putin, has found the foundation and bulwark of his rise, and therefore, the consolidation of his power, in function of the only objective to be pursued identified in the “recognition on the international level of the status of a great power of the Russian Federation” ; last but not least, it is hardly necessary to recall that the fleeting cooperation established between Russia and the United States on the occasion of the "fight against terror", was in any case conducted by Russia under the banner of a policy of so-called “hard power” for the preservation of the post-Soviet space in order to prevent its western-intended “democratization”. Therefore, and if we wish to argue on this point, the specter stirred up by the American ally constitutes nothing more nor less than a pale attempt at re-aligning the Union with respect to the nationalisms of some Members crushed by the pressures of the local population aimed at restoring the status quo before the fateful day of February 24, 2022.

The real problem of this next round of elections is quite another, and it does not seem to be able to be resolved quickly: abstention , which is not only the "voluntary" one animated by those who feel disappointed by their representatives and betrayed in expectations, but also that so-called "involuntary", concerning several million voters who, for various reasons, may not be able to go to the polls in order to express their preference.

The phenomenon, indeed little investigated because it is probably not very attractive even from a journalistic point of view, seems to be related to the elections according to a crescendo such as to be able on its own to displace all voting predictions: to the point that the thought of Russian interference induces in each of the we only a sly smile indicative of the lack of significance of the matter. In short, the elderly, with or without infirmity, those with disabilities, off-site workers, off-site students as well as all those who for various reasons, even for pure and simple entertainment, find themselves unintentionally excluded from the vote will probably be away from their homes on the one day of voting .

In essence, and in short, the only interference in the current democratic process seems to be represented, in addition to the so-called apparent abstentionism, by real abstentionism, substantiated in the human categories of the indifferent and the alienated as a whole, understood that, in the absence of any appreciable civil commitment have ended, and will also end on the occasion of 25 September, to condition the results of the vote more than the powerful Russian elite could do if we really wanted to continue to conceive the same as an enemy to fight.

In conclusion, it will perhaps not be superfluous to observe how also the progressive reduction of the levels of competitiveness within the various Italian party systems, determined by the stabilization of confused democratic processes devoid of valuable contents and of direct interest for the community to be managed by almost approved, has contributed to fueling abstention requests by discouraging participation in the vote.

The advice, therefore, is to stay with your feet firmly planted on the ground, avoiding looking elsewhere for the cause of responsibilities which are, unfortunately, all internal to our democracies which, probably, still seem far from having completed what is necessary. process of "nationalization" of politics that should have led to the formation and consolidation of nation-states capable of managing social fractures and the subsequent national convergence of electoral behavior.

Giuseppina Di Salvatore - Lawyer, Nuoro

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