2012 Italian centre-left primary election

Unlike the previous centre-left primaries, which resulted in Romano Prodi's overwhelming victory over the radical left candidate (later President of the Chamber of Deputies) Fausto Bertinotti, this time the race was considered much more competitive, primarily because of Renzi's presence on the ballot.

Bersani with the President of Emilia-Romagna, Vasco Errani, during the electoral campaign.

In fact, PD Secretary Pierluigi Bersani entered the campaign as a clear favorite, being able to cluster around himself the solid support of almost the whole party (he was endorsed by about the 90% of the over 300 PD MPs) and the highly influential CGIL. His leadership, however, was soon challenged by mayor Renzi, who already in 2011 had become the leader of a grassroots movement (defined Rottamazione, Scrappage) that called for a radical renewal of the party governing boards, considered responsible for the collapse of both Prodi governments and, more in general, the inability to counter Silvio Berlusconi's appeal and policies over the previous 20 years. Renzi's relatively young age and continuous attacks on several prominent party leaders (especially on former PM Massimo D'Alema, that ignited a heated squabble) helped him gain the label of "anti-establishment" candidate, and, in a climate of general deep discontent towards the whole political class, this resulted in a dramatic increase in popularity across the whole political spectrum. On the other hand, his political stances, based on a centrist platform and open to a moderate liberalism (with frequent remarks to Tony Blair's New Labour), alienated many leftists and led to the charge of trying to win the primaries by relying mostly on the support of right-wing electors.

Governor Nichi Vendola carried out a radical, left-wing campaign centered on the consequences of the 2008–2012 global recession, openly endorsing the stances of the Occupy movement, with frequent attacks to the global financial system and the Monti Cabinet, seen as an emanation of the same lobbies that caused the crisis and keep strangling the poorer classes; while remaining committed to the idea of a federal Europe and to public debt reduction, he advocated a strong reduction in military expenses and a higher taxation on the richest (often citing François Hollande's fiscal reform). Civil rights, and in particular LGBT rights promotion was another key issue for Vendola, who is the most prominent openly gay Italian politician; during the campaign, he hit the headlines stating his will to marry his current partner and build a family. However, Vendola's campaign started in earnest only at the beginning of November, when he was acquitted in a corruption trial; if found guilty, he promised he would have left politics immediately.

Matteo Renzi during the campaign for the primary election.

Puppato and Tabacci, unanimously considered underdogs, were left with little media coverage and generally neglected. Puppato, who as mayor of Montebelluna gained popularity for her environmentalist battles, belonged to the "green" faction of the PD and campaigned on sustainable development and green economy promotion; moreover, being the only woman to contest the race, she raised the issue of discrimination against women, particularly stressing the gender pay gap and the rise of domestic violence. Tabacci, whose candidacy was aimed at representing the moderate values in the primaries, emphasized honesty and responsibility in politics, gaining widespread respect for his coherence and moral integrity, even from the far left.

Secretary Pier Luigi Bersani countered Renzi's calls for Rottamazione with pledges to a deep but milder renewal in the party. He mounted up a campaign based on a mainstream social democratic platform, building his own image of reformist - during his tenure as minister in the Prodi II Cabinet, he became famous for his liberalization efforts, popularly called Lenzuolate - but firmly anchored to the values of the left; he was depicted as the "used safe", an experienced yet efficient politician, the only candidate capable of keeping together the coalition and with the standing needed to deal with the other European leaders.

Right from the start, being the PD by far the largest party in the coalition, the media reduced (somewhat forcedly) the contest to a race between Bersani and Renzi, with the former constantly leading in the polls by a comfortable margin but still below the 50% threshold needed to avoid the run-off. Trying to close the gap, Renzi toured all 108 Provinces of Italy with a camper, and repeatedly asked for a relaxation of the rules, since an increase in the turnout seemed to go to Renzi's advantage.

The electoral committee soon received many offers by all main TV channels to organize a debate among all candidates. In the end, the debate was held on 12 November and aired live in prime-time by Sky TG24 and Cielo, both belonging to the private television platform Sky Italia; this caused controversy, mainly because Italian public network RAI repeatedly demanded to host the event but was turned down. The debate, that was widely considered a success, being watched by over 1.5 million viewers, was narrowly won by Renzi, but the polls did not show any significant improvement in his numbers. Calls from both Vendola and Renzi to hold another public debate were denied by Bersani.

On election day, little more than 3 million people cast their vote, a sharp decline in turnout if compared to the previous primaries but well beyond the rosiest prospects nonetheless. As widely expected, Bersani gained a plurality but not an absolute majority, with Renzi coming distant second. Renzi came first in his native Tuscany, Umbria and Marche, widely known as the "reddest" regions of Italy, and was highly competitive in the rich North-West; on the other hand, Bersani won all major cities (with the exception of Renzi's Florence) and prevailed overwhelmingly in the South, where Renzi often yielded the second place to Vendola. The leader of SEL had disappointing results, coming third overall with only 15% of the votes and narrowly losing his own region to Bersani.

Vendola, leader of the leftist component of the coalition, soon declared his personal support for Bersani, initially only informally, later joining the PD Secretary in a common electoral rally in Naples; Vendola's widely expected endorsement ostensibly tilted the balance in Bersani's favor.

Renzi countered by reviving the long-drawn-out strife over the rules, publicly inviting those who had not voted in the first round to register and take part to the run-off, though this was forbidden by the electoral committee.

As a matter of fact, the rules were somewhat ambiguous on that point, stating that those willing to vote in the second round had to justify their absence on the first, but an initially rather lenient interpretation was later reversed for a much stricter one, much to Renzi's chagrin, who openly denounced the attempt to rig the elections by the establishment-controlled electoral committee.

Bersani replied by officially charging his opponent with trying to raid the vote. All candidates who had been eliminated in the first round soon joined Bersani in his protests. Seeing that the attack over the rules had substantially backfired on him, on the last day of campaign Renzi gave up, promising to respect in any case the outcome of the vote.

In the end, over 120,000 more people applied to register, but only little more than 7,000 were actually allowed to vote.

A second TV debate between the two candidates was held on 28 November, this time aired by Rai 1, the oldest and most popular Italian TV channel, again live and in prime-time. The debate lasted little less than two hours, hosted by TG1 leading anchorwoman Monica Maggioni, who posed questions drafted by the newsroom and posted by the audience in the TG1 website over the previous days. The debate featured hook-ups with electoral committees of both candidates, who too had the opportunity to ask questions.

Like the previous debate, the contest was dominated by fair-play, with no cheap shots and leaving alone the quarrel about the rules. Again, Renzi seemed more at ease with the quick TV pace and emerged as the clear winner, but Bersani held out, keeping his lead in the polls.

On 2 December Bersani won the run-off with around 61% of the vote, a higher margin than expected. Bersani again swept the South, that voted en masse for him, and swung to his column Umbria and Marche, thus leaving to Renzi only Tuscany. With Bersani's victory becoming apparent soon after the closing of the polls, Renzi quickly conceded, thanking his supporters and calling for party unity.