The coalition led by 45-year-old far-right MP Giorgia Meloni won the early parliamentary elections in Italy this Sunday (25) and is expected to have a majority in parliament, according to an exit poll published by broadcaster Rai.
According to the poll conducted by the Opinio-Italia consortium, the so-called “center-right” coalition should have 41% to 45% of the vote, enough to govern without the need for support from other political areas.
According to the poll, the conservative alliance will have 227-257 of the 400 seats in the House and 111 to 131 of the 200 seats in the Senate.
The agreement between coalition members ensures that the party with the most votes has the privilege of appointing the next prime minister. That role will fall to Brothers in Italy (22% to 26%), the far-right party headed by Meloni, who is expected to be the first woman to lead the country, according to the poll.
Other pillars of the coalition are Matteo Salvini’s ultranationalist Liga and Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative Forza Italia, which emerged with 8.5 to 12.5% and 6% to 8% respectively.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) is expected to reach 17% to 21% and will be the main opposition force for the prospective right-wing government in the future. Then comes the anti-system 5 Star Movement (M5S), Italy’s most popular ex-party with 13.5% to 17.5%.
As the leader of the only major opposition party in the national unity government of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Meloni intensified the support of those who were dissatisfied with the situation in the country and surpassed the last two great leaders of the Italian right: Berlusconi and Salvini, whose party is part of the Draghi administration.
In the last parliamentary elections in 2018, FDI received only 4.35% of the vote.
Meloni has radicalized her speech on issues like immigration and civil rights over the past few years – she advocates a naval blockade against immigrants from the Mediterranean and opposes the adoption of homosexuals – but has tried to portray herself as more moderate in other areas.
Historically Eurosceptic, the FdI leader no longer talks about removing Italy from the European Union. In addition, he is more critical of Vladimir Putin’s regime than his allies on the Italian right, and is also opposed to increasing the country’s debt to combat rising inflation, which is a source of tension in the coalition.
Background – Born in Rome on January 15, 1977, Giorgia Meloni approached politics at the age of 15 when she joined the “Youth Front”, a youth organization affiliated with the extinct post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) party. It was created by former members of the Benito Mussolini regime.
At the age of 19, Meloni recorded a video saying that “Mussolini was a good politician” and that “everything he did was for Italy”.
Over the years, he rose through the ranks of the MSI’s heir to the National Alliance (AN), and in 1998 was elected councilor of the province of Rome and remained in that position until 2002. The Chamber of Deputies, who also served as the Minister of Youth in the Berlusconi government from 2006 to 2008-2011, has been here to this day.
In the same year he was first elected to Parliament, he gave an interview in which he said he “had a quiet relationship with fascism”. Regarding Mussolini, he said the dictator “made various mistakes, such as racial laws, going to war, and the authoritarian system.”
“Historically, he’s produced a lot too, but that doesn’t save him,” said Meloni at the time, slightly changing her speech for her youth.
In December 2012, Meloni joined a group of AN dissidents to found the FdI, which to this day features the tricolor flame symbolizing MSI on its badge. The MP has been chairing the Brothers of Italy since 2014 and has gradually expanded his constituency as he has spent the past decade always in opposition.
Meloni took advantage of the dissatisfaction of groups ranging from workers laid off due to the epidemic to self-employed people punished by Covid-19, including those who are anti-vaccine – the deputy said he was vaccinated against Covid, but did not take a photo.
It also sought to distance itself from openly neo-fascist movements such as CasaPound and Força Nova, which were historically close to FDI militancy.
source: Noticias
