The electoral alliance announced with great aplomb to prevent a takeover of power by the united right in Rome lasted five days.

It was closed by former Prime Minister Enrico Letta, leader of the social democratic Partito Democratico (PD), and former Economics Minister Carlo Calenda, chairman of the left-liberal party Azione (Action).

Former EU Commissioner Emma Bonino's Più Europa (More Europe) party, which is allied with Azione, also joined the pact with the Social Democrats for the September 25 elections.

Letta's PD currently has 23 percent in the polls, Azione and Più Europa should have brought their cumulative six percent approval to the alliance.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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But on Sunday Calenda announced that it was leaving the pact that had just been concluded.

Più Europa, on the other hand, is sticking to the alliance.

The reason for Calenda's withdrawal is another alliance that PD leader Letta made on Saturday.

Namely with the allied parties Europa Verde (Green Europe) and Sinistra Italiana (Italian Left), which together come to four percent in polls.

The 23 plus six plus four that Letta had hoped for, i.e. 33 percent, has now unexpectedly become only 30 percent again.

It is not entirely clear whether the Azione as a “solo party” can easily get half of the percentages that they recently achieved in polls together with Più Europa.

Acting Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who left the left-wing populist Five Star Movement in June, also joined the Letta alliance with his new party, Impegno Civico (Civil Obligation).

Mutual finger pointing

After Calenda's withdrawal, Letta fumed: "It seems to me that Calenda is Calenda's only possible partner." Conversely, he blamed Letta for the failure of the alliance: "He knew yesterday what would happen today.

I warned him," Calenda said on Sunday.

Calenda's justification for breaking the just concluded pact with Letta is not entirely out of thin air.

Letta campaigned and still campaigns for his alliance with the argument that in the event of an election victory they want to continue the work of the non-party Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

But in last week's vote on Finland and Sweden joining NATO, the left and the Greens did not vote with the outgoing Draghi coalition.

Letta's new allies also take opposite positions to those of the Social Democrats on energy policy and in connection with the war against Ukraine.

Calenda accuses Letta of opening the PD far too far to extreme left positions with the new pact, instead of looking for additional partners in the political center.

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his left-centrist small party Italia Viva (Living Italy), for example, are there.

Renzi left the PD in September 2019 after the Social Democrats formed a Five Star coalition, taking some Social Democrat political heavyweights with him to his new party.

Italia Viva comes in polls at just under three percent, so she would have to worry about clearing the three percent hurdle and entering parliament if she were to stand alone.

In February 2014, Renzi ousted his then PD party comrade Enrico Letta from the office of prime minister.

Letta Renzi has not forgiven this "stab in the back" to this day.

The two shouldn't be friends anymore, maybe not political partners either.

Renzi is now pushing for the creation of a “centre pole” that could achieve double-digit election results and tip the scales in favor of the left and against the right.

However, it is questionable whether there will be enough time for this.

And whether a hastily forged pact of the political center would receive the ten percent of the votes required for party alliances to enter parliament is also an open question.

As is so often the case in Italian politics, the strength of the right is also due to the weakness of the divided left.

The right-wing alliance led by Giorgia Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy party has not shown any cracks so far.