A critical analysis of the political situation in San Marino, starting from the Festa dell’Amicizia in Serravalle and leading to a reflection on the future of the Christian Democratic Party (Democrazia Cristiana) and, more broadly, on the Titano’s political system. This is the analysis offered by Marco Nicolini in a lengthy post published on Facebook.
Below is Marco Nicolini’s Facebook post:
As a resident of Serravalle, a castle I can easily get around by bike, I notice that the Festa dell’Amicizia still draws its usual crowd of elderly ballroom dancers and voracious rib-eaters, but I also see that fewer and fewer San Marino citizens pay attention to the political rallies.
Perhaps we are witnessing the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of the ancient world which, in our small reality, would not translate into dissolution but, at the very least, into a significant downsizing of the Christian Democratic Party.
I don’t believe that, should this happen, it would be attributable to a crisis of Catholicism, since there are other openly Catholic parties that will win strong support in the upcoming elections. Rather, it would be down to a system of power that has run its course.
The Christian Democrats of the past had men of high intellectual stature, like Bigi and Ghironzi, who spoke as equals with figures of similar calibre, such as Andreotti and Fanfani. But now that this level has collapsed, both in Italy and in San Marino, the recipe for staying afloat through promises and trade-offs hasn’t changed.
Not that left-wing parties adopt different practices — quite the opposite. San Marino’s left-wing parties are just like the Christian Democrats, except that the Christian Democrats are far more populist and further to the left than they are.
I fear, however, that we have reached a point of stalemate. There are no more positions left to hand out under the State, the NPLs have been exhausted, the barrel has been scraped clean by the top officials imposed upon us.
Of course, there will still be plenty of votes from those who benefited from having a none-too-bright son hired at the same salary as a full-time working engineer, from disproportionate appointments, from favouritism in every field.
…and there will also be votes from those who, since the age of 57, have been drawing a pension double the current salary of someone far more qualified, with higher credentials, who will retire at seventy — but who was unfortunate enough to be born five years later.
In this context, San Marino is a country of inequity.
Still, even this type of voter will quickly realise it if the wind changes, promptly shoring up their position with other political forces: cunning, after all, is the weapon of those less intelligent than average — an average that the easy times of recent decades have considerably lowered in our country.
