Populism in power? The 2016 Administrative Elections in Rome

The 2016 Administrative Elections in Rome represent an important turning point in the new course of Italian politics, characterized by the tri-polar order ratified by 2013 General Elections (Diamanti, 2013; Morcellini, Antenore, Ruggiero, 2013). The Five Star Movement’s candidate, Virginia Raggi, has conquered the city administration of the Italian capital, while the most successful candidate of the right-wing parties, Giorgia Meloni, didn’t reach the second ballot, and the candidate of the left-wing party, Roberto Giachetti, ended gaining the majority of voters in only two of fifteen municipalities. This might be seen as the triumph of populism, being this controversial political category considered the key of the Five Star Movement’s success (Corbetta, Gualmini, 2013; Santoro, 2013; Biorcio, Natale, 2013). But a more detailed analysis shows that the main features of populism, and the elements that make a political communication strategies “populist” – a condition of candidate-centered politics, and to a more and more radicalized personalization of the leadership (McAllister, 2007; Karvonen, 2010); a leader’s communication style focused on how he/she chose to appeal to the people, in line with the going public strategy (Kernell, 2007) –, are an ineluctable part of post-modern political scenario. So, the communication strategies of different candidates in an electoral campaign may be seen as a different mix of three key elements, closely related to each other: personalization, popularization, and the use of a populist rhetoric. A linguistic analysis conducted on the main candidates’ TV speeches may find the presence of these three elements in the arena which persistent centrality in political debate is one of the reasons of the use and success of populist rhetoric (Taguieff, 2003). Such an analysis may focus on elements like the appeal to the people; the tendency to create a huge contrast between first-person singular and first-person plural to create identification with the audience; the referring to the addressee of political communication as “citizen” or “voters” rather than “people” or “folks” (Ruggiero, 2015). In this paper, such an analysis will be applied at the speeches of Virginia Raggi, Giorgia Meloni and Roberto Giachetti taken from their presence in political talk shows aired on the seven broadcast TV networks starting from 30 days before the elections, and ending two days before the day of the second ballot. Once the importance of populist rhetoric in the communication strategies of the three candidates will be verified, its centrality in the Five Star Movement’s Major of Rome success will be put to the test.