‘The uneducated vote for the right.’ A clash between Meloni and Bonaccini

‘In an enlightening lecture, Stefano Bonaccini, President of the Democratic Party, explains to us that millions of Italians vote for the right because they are poorly educated. We’ve heard this one before. Those who vote for them are cultured, informed and intelligent citizens, whilst those who vote for us are supposedly ignorant people to be pitied, if not re-educated. Perhaps Bonaccini should consider a simpler possibility: those Italians, regardless of the schools they attended, have learnt the hard way about the consequences of left-wing policies.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote this on Facebook, commenting on the remarks made by PD President Stefano Bonaccini, who had said in recent days that the right-wing vote comes ‘mainly from those who have little education, live in inland areas and on the outskirts of cities, and are worse off financially’. Controversy erupted immediately.

 ‘They have seen less safe cities, uncontrolled borders, neglected suburbs and moralising lectures from those who presume to tell others how they should live, how they should vote, and how they should think,’ the Prime Minister continues on Facebook. ‘Those Italians vote for the right because we do not ask them what qualifications they have before listening to them. We respect them. And it is perhaps precisely this respect that Bonaccini and a certain section of the left, despite their many defeats, have not yet learnt enough about.’

‘They have taken a single sentence out of a broader argument,’ Bonaccini argues in his defence. ‘I was saying that over the last ten years in the West, every time there has been an election – and the right has often won, from the first to the second Trump, to Brexit, to Le Pen, to the vote for the right in Italia – the right has secured not a universal vote, but a majority one, if we break down the figures: amongst those with slightly lower educational qualifications, amongst those who are worse off financially, and amongst those living in inland areas, the countryside and on the outskirts of cities. This is what has happened; when we break down the vote, there are analyses and studies to back it up. This does not mean that there aren’t people with multiple degrees who vote for the Lega, Fratelli d’Italia or Vannacci. But I’ve highlighted this as a problem for the Left.’ He added: ‘The Left, which has often lost elections in many European countries and in the US,’ he continued, ‘should be better at representing those who are in greater economic difficulty, or who have had fewer opportunities in life to attain higher educational qualifications. It’s just to say that we need a more grassroots Left. But do you really think I’d go so far as to say that only those who study… let’s not be ridiculous. I’ve analysed the reality of the situation by breaking down the vote.” “I understand,” Bonaccini continued, “that it’s easier to stir up a rather surprising row with me – yesterday Bignami started it, and to some extent the Lega as well – rather than addressing why we pay our bills, petrol prices that are among the highest in the world, or why there are too many people in precarious employment—especially young people—why the public health service is collapsing, or why the country isn’t growing and will be the worst performer in the EU’s 27 member states in terms of growth.”