The Democratic Party of Italy will elect new leadership today as the party rethinks its strategy – Photo: Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse LaPres/Rex/Shutterstock

Italy’s center-left Democratic Party (DP) will hold a leadership election today amid struggles to find its electoral footing.

While the DP remains Italy’s largest opposition party, its political fortunes have reversed in recent years. After fielding three successive prime ministers between 2013-2018 the DP entered the opposition following the 2018 election. It again returned to the opposition after performing even worse than expected in the 2022 election, this time at the hands of the Brothers of Italy—Italy’s most right-wing party to enter power since WWII.

The leadership contest is a race between the moderate Stefano Bonaccini and the more radical Elly Schlein, as both seek to replace outgoing party leader Enrico Letta. While Bonaccini is likely to win, his victory would not necessarily return the DP to power at the next election. Nationally, Brothers of Italy polls twice as favorably as the DP, reinforced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s extended honeymoon.

Thus, the DP faces an identity crisis. Should the party elect Bonaccini, it risks alienating its evolving voter base. But under Schlein, the DP may struggle to forge the coalitions that typically helped it ascend the premiership. In the short term, expect the DP to continue its uncertainty as the party fails to establish its new identity.