Bonaccini, Meloni, Vannacci: The true majority doesn't vote.

But when do we vote? …As?… We still don't know? Oh, we don't even know what electoral law will be used?

So why does it feel like we're in the midst of a feverish election campaign? Aside from the party spokespeople who scare me to death when they appear on the news - with that fixed, expressionless gaze, only moving their mouths like the souls Japanese from the 80s — I must say that the grotesquely comic entertainment of our political class is reaching dizzying heights.

And mind you, it's not a joke thrown out there To open this piece with a pinch of salt: it's a precise snapshot of the situation. As I write these lines, the law on which Italians are supposed to vote next has been stuck in parliamentary limbo for a year and a half: approved by the Chamber of Deputies on July 16th, stalled in the Senate, the fifth attempted reform in thirty years, and yet another born without seeking the opinion of those who will endure it. We don't know when the vote will take place. We don't know how the vote will take place. However, we do know, with surgical precision, who has studied less and why they choose a certain symbol on the ballot. Priorities in this country have always been crystal clear.

The bad news: Bonaccini discovers hot water and gets burned

Let's proceed in order, because the story far surpasses any satirical script. On August 24th, in Albenga, the president of the Democratic Party Stefano Bonaccini he goes up on a stage and pronounces a phrase which calling him "unhappy" is an act of courtesy that he, personally, does not deserve: in the last ten years - he claims - from Trump to Brexit to Meloni and Vannacci, the right-wing vote has come predominantly from those who have studied less, live in the suburbs or in internal areas and are worse off economically.

Now, the point isn't that the data is false. Voter flows have confirmed for years that educational qualifications have become one of the most robust predictors of electoral behavior: those with a college degree tend to lean left, while those with a middle school diploma lean right. The real short circuit lies in the as you say it and, above all, from Where you say it. Bonaccini speaks from the pulpit of a party that in the last twenty years has progressively replaced workers with university professors in its base, displaying the tone of someone who illustrates a brilliant scientific discovery rather than confessing a resounding political failure.

It's the exact replica of a starred restaurant that, after doubling its prices for ten years in a row, looks on in amazement at its old regulars lining up at the fast food restaurant and declares: “They obviously have an unrefined palate”.

Meloni, the outrage with the influencer times

At this point he enters the scene Georgia Meloni, who waits with painstaking patience for four days – four full days, not a quarter of an hour – before relaunching the phrase on social media with the theatrical fervor of someone who has just heard it: “In an enlightened lecture, Bonaccini explains that millions of Italians vote right-wing because they haven't studied enough.”, writes the prime minister, accusing the left of intellectual arrogance and of judging citizens from the height of their academic qualifications instead of listening to their needs.

Applause, standing ovations, and impeccable choreography. Too bad that timing reveals the whole story: we're in front of pure political merchandising. A phrase so tempting for propaganda purposes shouldn't be consumed immediately: it should be left to settle like a vintage wine, uncorked at the precise moment it guarantees maximum media coverage. In reality, the Prime Minister should thank Bonaccini in private. for giving her three days of free opening credits, on a land that doesn't cost a single euro in financial coverage and doesn't require even a single concrete proposal.

Vannacci and the "stink of sweat" recitation“

To complete the picture, it could not be missing Roberto Vannacci, which proudly claims the vote on the glossy cover “who smells of sweat”, contrasting manual labor with the gilded detachment of intellectual salons.

Here it is again, the image of the soul-spokesperson: working jaw, immobile gaze, a formula tested in a test tube to hit straight to the gut while eluding the brain. More than political communication, we are at’slogan engineering: Faced with an electorate tired of deciphering complex dynamics, highly emotional hyperbole offers a ready-made cognitive shortcut. Vannacci crafts it with the skill of a copywriter launching a deodorant ad—a wry irony, considering the topic.

The script is now set: the left oscillates between technocracy and paternalism, fueling the unpleasant sensation of being judged from above in less educated voters; the right responds with a visceral and aggressive tone, perfect for capitalizing on resentment without the burden of having to heal it. Nobody is really talking to people. They simply talk to each other, using citizens as cardboard cutouts for their own personal brawl.

The number that none of the three want to look in the face

And here's the element that transforms this comedy into something much deeper. If we calculate voting intentions not on the narrow confines of valid ballots, but on the actual total number of those entitled to vote, the perspective is completely reversed.

The 42% of Italians openly declares that they will not go to the polls. A further 13,34% states that he will go to vote, but does not know who to choose or prefers not to answer. The sum produces an impressive figure: 55,34% of the electorate it is placed outside the offer of the parties. More than half of Italy has pulled the plug.

Let's compare the numbers with reality:

Deployment / List	% out of the total number of eligible voters
🔕 Abstentions (would not go to vote)	42,00%
❓ Undecided / Does not answer (they will go, but without a choice)	13,34%
🔴 TOTAL AREA OF NON-VOTING AND DISORIENTATION	55,34%
🔵 Brothers of Italy	11,46%
🔴 Democratic Party	9,47%
🟡 Five Star Movement	5,68%
🟢 National Future (Vannacci)	3,61%
🔵 Forza Italia	3,29%
🟢 Green and Left Alliance	2,93%
🟢 League	2,17%
⚪ Action	1,26%
⚪ Reformist House – Italia Viva	0,90%
⚪ South Calls North	0,59%
⚪ We Moderates	0,45%
⚪ Civic Project Italy	0,45%
⚪ More Europe	0,45%
⚪ Power to the People	0,41%
⚪ Other minor lists	0,41%
⚪ UDC	0,32%
⚪ Now!	0,32%
⚪ Forward PSI	0,27%
⚪ Communist Refoundation	0,23%
Grand total	100,01%

Data source: Reprocessing of national voting intentions in relation to the total number of eligible voters (end of August 2026).

Looking at the table, the verdict is merciless: Brothers of Italy, the first government force, mobilizes the’11,46% of those entitled to it. The PD, opposition leader, stops at 9,47%. National Future Vannacci travels to 3,61%.

Added together, the great duelists of these days don't even reach a third of the gigantic "party" of those who abstain or don't know who to vote for. Bonaccini, Meloni, and Vannacci are squabbling over the crumbs of a country that, for the most part, he just turned off the sound.

Inside that 55% two very distinct Italies coexist:

1. The deprivation waiver: economically and socially depleted citizens, who have fallen into the belief that casting a ballot will not change their material condition one iota.
2. Critical and conscious abstention: People with solid cultural backgrounds who reject the vulgar tone and artificial polarization, while simultaneously repelled by the abstract, academic elitism of the left. A thoughtful constituency, patiently awaiting a credible political proposal that no one has yet been able—or willing—to formulate.

Forget about a new electoral law: we need a dose of reality.

So no, dear protagonists of this little theater: the urgent problem is not agreeing on what legislative alchemy we'll rely on. The truth is that you're arguing over the top step of the podium in a race in which more than half of the runners have already decided not to show up at the start.

You can rewrite the electoral rules for the sixth time, you can continue to toss around catchy phrases packaged for news headlines: as long as the unit of measurement remains the algorithm's approval rating rather than its ability to solve problems, that chasm of 55% will continue to expand in silence.

The real political fact capable of keeping you awake at night is not in yet another commissioned poll or in the latest gaffe on a talk show: it is in an entire country that has stopped expecting anything from those who claim to represent it.

I seek beauty everywhere, and even in politics I occasionally try to find a reflection of it. But here, if we look closely, we're still at year zero.

🔍 Learn more about RickyVerso:

• The Economy of Rage: How emotional polarization became the bargaining chip of modern consensus.
• On the High Horse: the ancient vice of the elite who do not notice the imminent collapse of their pedestal.