PD shd rid itself of factions says Morassut

(ANSA) - Rome, February 1 - Roberto Morassut, an MP for Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and candidate in the Rome centre-left mayoral primaries, on Friday said the PD should rid itself of "factions and sub-factions".
    "The party should be more united, there's no doubt about it," said Morassut, who has been accused of representing a minority wing of the PD critical of Renzi.
    Morassut also apologised for the case of former Rome mayor Ignazio Marino, who resigned last year amid an expenses scandal that led the PD to abandon him.
    "It was a bad case," Morassut said.
    Morassut is a former city-planning executive councillor under Walter Veltroni, Rome mayor from 2001 to 2008.
    He is expected to be the main challenger to fellow PD MP and Lower House Deputy Speaker Roberto Giachetti, the frontrunner who is considered close to Renzi.
    Morassut has denied that he was the representative of a left-wing minority within the PD who are hostile to many of Renzi's reforms.
    Ex-Senator Stefano Pedica and Defence Undersecretary Domenico Rossi of the small Democratic Centre (CD) party have also said they will run in the Rome primaries.
    Stefano Fassina, the leader and Rome mayor candidate for the small left-wing Sinistra Italiana (SI) party, has said he cannot see enough common ground with the PD for him to run in the primaries.
    Fassina is a former junior economy minister who left the PD last year after a series of disagreements over the policies of Renzi's government.
    Rome is currently being run by an extraordinary commissioner, Francesco Paolo Tronca, after former PD Mayor Ignazio Marino was forced out last year following an expenses scandal.