Tennis-like 6-0 shows Right can be beaten - PD's Schlein

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 25 - Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schein said Tuesday that the centre-left's success in this month's round of local elections showed the ruling centre-right coalition of Premier Giorgia Meloni can be beaten when the opposition parties join forces.
    "It was an almost tennis-like 6-0 in the regional capitals," Schein said after the centre left won runoff votes on Sunday and Monday in Florence, Bari, Campobasso, Perugia and Potenza, having already taken Cagliari in the first round.
    "It's an extraordinary victory for the PD and for the progressive field.
    "It gives energy and hope to the work that we have ahead of us and shows that, by working together, the parties of the Right can be beaten.
    "This result shows that we are capable of building winning coalitions".
    Schein also criticised Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa, a senior member of Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, for suggesting changing the rules for local elections under which there is a runoff if none of the candidates get more than 50% of the votes in the first round.
    "You don't abolish elections when you lose, you don't run away with the ball, as La Russa said yesterday," the PD chief said.
    "It's not voters' fault if the Right lost, it's their fault.
    "We don't agree, and we find it inappropriate that the State's second-highest official talked about changing the rules a few minutes after the defeat".
    La Russa said a change is needed because there was a drop in the turnout between the first round and the runoffs. (ANSA).