After the referendums the regional game: here's what can happen from Veneto to Campania

Other than a referendum on the government. For the team led by Giorgia Meloni, the one wanted by the centre-left has turned into a referendum on the opposition itself. "An alternative to us does not exist," is the line filtering from the upper echelons of Palazzo Chigi, where the conviction is that the ballot box has sanctioned the defeat of the broad camp. "It is definitively dead", the expression used by Senate President Ignazio La Russa, stigmatised by the other political side but widely shared in the majority, which with a sigh of relief has seen the results come in from the polls.

In particular, the Melonians underline those on the question to halve the time for citizenship that, in the words of a FdI bigwig, 'put a tombstone on the ideological vision on immigration that the left has, between open doors and ius soli'. FdI's social media did not spare irony and sarcasm towards Elly Schlein, and the senior leaders of the oppositions: from the meme of Riccardo Magi in a deserted polling station with the sheet of the phantom referendum, to the post such as 'you wanted to stop Giorgia Meloni. The Italians stopped you'. The analysis in FdI circles is even sharper. 'We said not to go and vote and the Italians largely did not go,' is one of the findings circulating among the premier's loyalists. The belief is that the oppositions have attempted a 'reckless manoeuvre', and that in the end 'the attempt to race each other has played into the hands of the centre-right'.

'The government emerges further strengthened and the left further weakened,' was the summary of Undersecretary Giovanbattista Fazzolari. In particular, one looks at the result of the fifth question, the one on citizenship, with the Yes vote stopping just over 60%. At the top levels of the government they read it as a promotion of migration policies. As well as confirmation that the current citizenship law 'is excellent', as Meloni herself made clear several times, even on the eve of the referendum. Matteo Salvini in turn relaunches, asking for 'clearer and stricter rules to be Italian citizens, a few more years of residence is not enough'. And on this front Forza Italia's plan to convince its allies to espouse the idea of Ius Scholae is becoming difficult.

Certainly if the referendums had achieved a quorum, the centre-right would now be looking with greater concern at the next electoral test, the regional elections in the autumn. There are several knots to untie. The FdI's opening on the third term will lead to a confrontation in the coalition: but times are tight, the outcome is not a foregone conclusion, and it will be decisive for the choice of candidates, especially in Veneto. The opening of the centre-right could reopen the games in Campania. There has been no shortage of tense moments between governor Vincenzo De Luca and PD secretary Elly Schlein: De Luca aspired to a third term in office, while Schlein has always been against it. 'If they decide they do it tomorrow morning,' said De Luca. 'If the government wants it, it's done in 48 hours. I don't think we have a restraining force from Parliament'.

These are decisions that pass above all through the leaders, and it is not excluded that Meloni, Salvini and Antonio Tajani may soon take stock, also because from the weekend the premier is expected by a series of international commitments, the G7, the NATO summit and the European Council. However it goes, is the reasoning of one of Meloni's party bigwigs, 'the regionals will not be a test for the government, nor will it end up like in 2000', when the vote was taken in 15 regions, the Ulivo won seven, the House of Freedom eight and the political consequence was the fall of the second D'Alema government. "At the time there was a clear alternative, Berlusconi. This time - the conviction that accompanies the reasoning - the alternative to the Meloni government cannot be seen'.