Last week PD leader Walter Veltroni made a dramatic move, excluding Ciriaco de Mita from the list of candidates to be presented at the upcoming elections. De Mita, who turned 80 in february, first served in parliament in 1963, has long been a significant voice in the fuzzy waters best termed ‘the centre’, after the dissolution/disintegration of the Christian democrat party (DC) in the 1990s.

How significant the move is remains to be seen, though. Opinion polls published during the week suggested that 68% of Italians favoured excluding candidates who have served in more than three legislatures. This has been a theme since Beppe Grillo’s proposals for a popular law last september, conditions of which included a ban on serving more than two terms of office.

Lowering the age of candidates for parliament will, undoubtedly, be a popular move amongst a large part of the electorate. The argument that such a move would exclude a vast range of experience from government falls on deaf ears, unsurprisingly given the dismal way that this established political class has run the country for the last twenty years.

Putting a focus on age will also help Veltroni in the direct contest between himself and Silvio Berlsuconi. Berlusconi, despite the fact that he carries his years well (with the aid of high-heels and hair transplants), is actually seventy-two.

The doubts, though, remain that Veltroni has simply used the popular introduction of the three-legislatures exclusion rule to target De Mita, with whom he allegedly fails to see eye-to-eye. In fact, while a number of high-profile members of the PD, for example Romano Prodi, have automatically excluded themselves from candidature citing the rule, there is a facility available to appeal the rule. We thus need to see the full list of candidates before seeing how renovated this PD party will be.

Suggestions that the PD’s moves are ageist couldn’t, however, be further from the truth. While in other sectors turning 65 usually signifies a major scale down in work, in the Italian political system of today, Veltroni’s party included, its no impediment to taking on serious office. De Mita won’t be on Veltroni’s list of candidates for the election, but leading Oncologist, and political novice, Umberto Veronesi will be. Veronesi turned 82 last November.