Sergio Cofferati blasted Premier
Matteo Renzi on Monday after leaving the head of government's
centre-left Democratic Party (PD) at the weekend in a dispute
over the primary to select its candidate for the governorship of
the northwestern region of Liguria.
The case has inflamed existing tensions between Renzi and
minority within the PD, who are unhappy about his style of
running the party and several of the government's policies,
including its labour reform and plan to overhaul Italy's
slow-moving, costly political system.
There is talk that this tension could cause problems for
Renzi when it comes to the task of electing a new president to
replace Giorgio Napolitano, who resigned last week, at the end
of the month.
There has even been speculation that the party could split.
Cofferati complained of voting irregularities after losing
the primary to Raffaella Paita, who is considered a Renzi
loyalist.
On Friday a PD commission cancelled the ballots from some
voting stations but confirmed that Paita had won the primary.
At a party meeting later on Friday, Renzi congratulated
Paita and said he considered the case closed.
"Renzi has a relaxed idea of political morality,"
Cofferati, an MEP who is a former head of the leftwing CGIL
trade union and the former mayor of Bologna, told La7
television.
"I would have expected him to talk for a minute about what
happened at (Friday's) party meeting. The fact that this did not
happen, made me realise that the party could no longer be my
home".
Cofferati said the primary was "contaminated" by
right-wing figures voting in it and said that "groups of poor
foreigners were brought in to vote" too.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
