First, the unification of the groups in the Regional Council, then the construction of a " common political perspective, in view of the upcoming regional congress of the Democratic Party of Sardinia ." The Democratic Party and the Progressives, whose regional leader is Cagliari Mayor Massimo Zedda, could soon merge, representing the island's most representative force of the broad camp that leads the Five Star Movement-led regional government with Five Star Movement representative Alessandra Todde. And while there's much talk on the island of cabinet reshuffles, starting with the Health Department, held ad interim by the governor, and of the shuffling of council committee presidencies midway through the legislature, for now the focus of the Democratic Party and the Progressives is the general election.

"The proposal to build a stronger common home has immediately found us staunch supporters," says Democratic Party Secretary and MP Silvio Lai. "The unity of progressive forces cannot be evoked only on the eve of elections. It must be prepared in daily work, within institutions and in the local communities, through political choices, shared battles, and a growing capacity for joint development." The party leadership's vision, however, looks to the 2027 elections: the newly elected Parliament will, in fact, be called upon, during the current legislature, to elect President Sergio Mattarella's successor .

Today, however, the priority for the Sardinian Democratic Party is to build a united center-left around a common program and credible leadership: "We are not the ones calling for primaries, and we don't consider holding them inevitable. If the law is definitively approved and the center-left decides to use them to identify its own candidate, the Democratic Party will be ready in Sardinia too. It will do so by taking care to preserve the unity of the regional coalition and by resolutely supporting the candidacy of Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein . But today the political issue is different: opposing a flawed law and building a credible alternative to the Meloni government," concludes Lai.

With this move, the Democratic Party strengthens its numerical presence in the chamber, bringing the group, with the entry of Francesco Agus and Ivan Pintus, to 13 councilors. According to analysts, moreover, with a year to go before the national elections, the Democrats are eyeing with interest the Progressives' vote base in Cagliari (where they surpassed 14% in the municipal elections, just one point below the Democratic Party), while the Progressives are aiming to secure Francesca Ghirra 's re-election to the Chamber of Deputies in the Democratic Party's seats and prepare the groundwork for Massimo Zedda's candidacy for the 2029 municipal elections, when the current mayor will attempt to run for Palazzo Bacaredda for the fourth time.

But there will be no immediate mergers in the Cagliari city council. "Personally, I hope that, at least for this term, the groups will remain separate," says Democratic Party group leader Marta Mereu . "We get along very well, we work in great harmony, and the collaboration is already very strong, but we were elected this way, and I believe it's right to maintain this configuration until the end of the mandate. If the process leads the Progressives to fully join the Democratic Party," she adds, "with formal membership, then the issue won't even arise: in the next elections, there will be a single list, and consequently, there will be a single council group."

(Unioneonline/En.Ne.)


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