This Sunday, Italian voters elect both a new Chamber of Deputies and new members of Italy’s Senate. It promises to be quite the drama…..The election will likely provide another example of the continuing erosion of Europe’s center left. Since taking over leadership in 2013, the leader of the Democratic Party (PD) Matteo Renzi has tried to reinvent it as a centrist and reformist force — much like Emmanuel Macron in France — but his performance in government left a lot to be desired. As a result, PD now seems relegated to a third-place finish, trailing behind both Mr. Berlusconi’s center-right bloc and the populist M5S. However, much more than just Mr. Renzi’s personal failure is at play here: A similar erosion of support for the mainstream left can be seen in other European countries, including France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Source: Five things to watch in the Italian parliamentary election – AEI
