Six regions to vote in the autumn, here are the entanglements with the third term hypothesis

Six regions will go to the vote in the autumn (Campania, Marche, Puglia, Tuscany, Valle D'Aosta, Veneto) and the third term could change the rules of the game. To date, the third term of office of governors has been closed by the sentence of the Consulta with the stop of the Campania regional law. The only possible way to change the number of mandates would be to change the ordinary law that sets them at two. Meloni, after having successfully challenged the Campania law before the Constitutional Court, has made a resounding U-turn in recent weeks, opening up to the League's pressure to revise the 2004 national law, so as to allow the 'Doge', Luca Zaia, to be able to stand for re-election in Veneto in the autumn. But, excluding the path of the decree-law (the requirements of necessity and urgency are lacking), the timeframe for the approval of a bill in Parliament appears very tight.

This is why an amendment to the bill on the number of regional councillors and aldermen is being tried in the majority, which is now being examined by the Constitutional Affairs Commission of Palazzo Madama. The deadline for submitting amendments has slipped by a week. There is more time to reach an agreement within the majority. But Forza Italia remains against it. 'The League can present the amendment it wants, we will not vote for it,' Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on the hypothesis of a League amendment on the third mandate, on the sidelines of a conference at the Chamber. And the Minister for Relations with Parliament Luca Ciriani (Fdi) warned: 'A proposal has not yet arrived, when it does we will evaluate it but be careful because time is running out: if there is an initiative it must be presented very quickly'.

The internal confrontation within the majority on candidates has already begun, starting with the smallest of the regions to be voted on in the coming months, Valle D'Aosta. The most delicate dossiers concern, however, the others. Starting with Veneto. Where the League seems to have gone along with the line of continuity, (even if FdI has become the first party at territorial level) in order to express the candidate to succeed Luca Zaia in the only race that the centre-right considers to be safe. That is, if the 'Doge' cannot run again. Fdi should get Lombardy in return, to vote in 2028.

The only region where the candidates are certain is the Marche, which could go to the vote as early as September. Here Matteo Ricci, former mayor of Pesaro and now a PD Euro MP, will challenge the outgoing governor, Melonian Francesco Acquaroli. Ricci should soon close the programme agreement of the centre-left alliance, M5s c0mpreso. In a region that the centre-left aims to wrest from the centre-right.

In Campania, the Pd-M5s agreement on Roberto Fico hangs on the knot of Vincenzo De Luca's exit from the scene, which a new law on the third term of office could bring back into play (throwing the centre-left into disarray). In the centre-right, so far the names of the deputy foreign minister, Edmondo Cirielli, indicated by Fratelli d'Italia, and the Lega deputy, Gianpiero Zinzi, have been circulating. While MEP Fulvio Martusciello, running for Forza Italia, has decided to take a step back while waiting for the Huawei affair (in which he is not under investigation) to be clarified, putting forward the hypothesis of a civic candidate, such as D'Amato or Piantedosi.