Last week was the deadline for the political parties to “patent” their symbols (comprising their slogan and logo) for the next political elections, which will be held on the 24th and 25th of February. Well, this year we have reached the new high record figure of 184 symbols to choose from! Here in Italy anybody can found un partito politico (a political party), un movimento (a movement) or una lista civica (a citizens’ list), and therefore run for elections. To make things more complicated there’s the fact that we vote separately for the two sections of parliament: la Camera (the Lower House) and il Senato (the Upper House), so we have parties that run only for one of the two houses of parliament, and parties that run with a logo and a leader for the Camera, and then use a slightly different logo and a different leader for the Senato. Sì, eccoci in Italia! Here are just a few of the simboli politici (click to enlarge):

Finally there is the lack of unity, the misplaced need for individualism that is genetically inbuilt in the Italians, which creates an incredible number of subdivisions amongst parties. For example, there are Lega Lombardo Veneta, Lega Federale del Sud, Lega Padana, Lega per l’Italia, Lega Italia, and Lega del Sud, all of them branches of the original federalist Lega Nord.

This crazy situation is used by many people as a means to express personal protest, rage, narcissism, or simply a bad sense of humour. Let’s have a look at just a few of the more improbable simboli politici (political symbols):

“Dimezziamo lo stipendio ai politici” (Let’s half the politicians’ salary)

“Movimento Bunga Bunga” (Bunga Bunga Movement) from Berlusconi’s infamous parties at his house near Milan. The symbol shows two stick men kicking each other in the posterior.

“Movimento mamme del mondo” (Movement of the mothers of the world)

“Fuoritutti” (Everybody out)

“Recupero maltolto” (Recover extorted goods)

“Partito Internettiano” (Internet Party)

“Io non voto” (I don’t vote)

“Partito Pirata” (Pirate Party)

“D.N.A. Democrazia – Natura – Amore” (D.N.A. Democracy – Nature – Love), whose leader is the famous porn actress Cicciolina (born Ilona Staller). She was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 1992.

“Liberi da Equitalia” (Free from Equitalia). Equitalia is the National Tax Agency

“No alla chiusura degli ospedali” (No to the closure of the hospitals)

“Pane Pace Lavoro” (Bread Peace Work)

Sì, è un vero e proprio casino, come al solito!