Elections, neck and neck in the Marche

“We have put the arrow, Ricci is ahead of Acquaroli and it is inevitable that it is so: given the disaster of these years, it is normal that the people of the Marche want to change. And the polls say so too ”.

Alessia Morani feels the wind in her favor for the center-left three and a half months before the regional elections. The former deputy will be among the candidates on the Pesaro-Urbino Pd list, but if she wins, she will take Matteo Ricci's place in Brussels as the first of the unelected in the last European elections. Morani cites the polls, because the chess game with the center-right is played largely on the findings that circulate in chat rooms or remain in drawers.

The latest one that has been passed from one smartphone to another of the Democratic Party says this: Acquaroli's confirmation is quoted between 47% and 50%, Ricci's victory between 50 and 53%. But who commissioned the survey? This too is one of the pieces of the various behind-the-scenes on which the aforementioned chess game is being played. It is not a party survey, but one requested by private individuals: one of those interest groups that before the elections try to sniff out which way the wind is blowing. The private individuals in question have been monitoring the mood of the people of the Marche for a while now and it is the first time that the overtaking of the center-left has emerged. Data that should be taken with a pinch of salt like everyone else, but which meanwhile make Ricci say he is on the right track.

The narrative coming from the other side is completely different . Its spokesperson is Marco Fioravanti, mayor of Ascoli Piceno, one of Prime Minister Meloni's most loyal supporters and one of the main points of reference for Governor Acquaroli.

“Traveling around the Marche region I feel a very positive atmosphere – he claims –, because people have appreciated Acquaroli’s reliability and the construction of change that starts from the bottom. The people of the Marche region do not want to stop the change and bring the left back to power. Also because the left is already arguing internally before the elections and this is one of the aspects that does not make it credible. I mean: someone who proposes a recipe and does not find consensus even within it is not credible. Ricci is running a very demanding electoral campaign, but the truth is that we are ahead. They are trying to set up a narrative to support the idea that the Marche region is contestable. And instead that is not the case”.

But the choices coming from Rome on both fronts also show that the Marche represents more than a peripheral election. Matteo Ricci can deploy the communications team that has already worked in Umbria: Flavio Alivernini, Marco Agnoletti and Francesco Nicodemo. For his part, Francesco Acquaroli has just put Italo Bocchino on the team, who the Roman party is making available to the governor, counting on him being able to give him support on a national level as well.

A choice that immediately lights the fuse . “According to Meloni and company – writes Morani – Acquaroli’s problem is communication, but they haven’t noticed that in our region people are no longer able to get treatment. We’ve reached the point of reporting because we can’t even do an MRI in 18 months”. Bocchino’s reply: “When she talks about healthcare in the Marche, Alessia Morani should study the numbers from the first term of presidency of the very talented Acquaroli. Her left has left a legacy of healthcare on its knees with abandoned territories, closed hospitals and doctors who were missing”. See? Forget about peripheral elections.