The far-right Brotherhood of Italian leader Giorgia Meloni speaks to the media at her party’s electoral headquarters in Rome on Sunday.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
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Gregorio Borgia / AP
The far-right Brotherhood of Italian leader Giorgia Meloni speaks to the media at her party’s electoral headquarters in Rome on Sunday.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
ROME – The coalition led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni will win the most votes in Sunday’s elections and will likely form Italy’s first far-right government since World War Two. .
Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party is on track to become the largest party in parliament, according to initial projections based on vote counting results.
Official results are expected on Monday.
In a late-night victory speech, Meloni thanked Italians for not believing what she called “lies” about her and her party. She said the results showed most Italians wanted her party to lead the government. She also said she regretted that many Italians did not vote. Voter turnout was 64%, the lowest level in a general election in nearly 50 years.
“It is important to understand that if we are called to run this country, we will do so for all Italians,” Meloni said, adding that “we will do so with the goal of unite the people.”
Fratelli d’Italia has its roots in the Italian Social Movement, founded by supporters of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Its leader, 45-year-old Meloni, is poised to become Italy’s first female prime minister. She had planned to form a coalition with two smaller right-wing parties: the far-right, anti-immigrant party (the League), led by former interior minister Matteo Salvini, and the centre-right Forza Italia, led by three leadership times. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The main center-left party, the Democratic Party (PD), took defeat and became the largest opposition party.
Meloni has built an image of a strong woman who criticizes “Brussels bureaucrats” and identifies with the needs of ordinary people. But as a teenager, Meloni joined the youth chapter of the Italian Social Movement, using fantasy novels such as that of J.R.R. Tolkien. Lord of the Rings Guido Caldiron, an Italian journalist specializing in fascism and right-wing, said.
“Tolkien gave them new ways to talk about their ideology, where they were not bad guys but communists defending their kingdom and traditions,” he said.
Most voters where she grew up rejected her politics
Meloni grew up in the working-class Garbatella neighborhood of Rome, where most voters supported leftist parties.
“She’s definitely not part of the spirit of this neighborhood,” said Michela Mancurti, a retired UN official amid a crowd of voters outside a polling station on Sunday. “Many of us are here voting to try to prevent her from winning.”
But NPR spoke to a number of Meloni fans, including Tiziana Pipistrello, who works in advertising. Pipistrello rolled his eyes as others in the neighborhood called Meloni a fascist.
“Enough, enough with that fascist business,” she said. “All of that happened a long time ago.”
Parties of fascist origin are being normalized in Italy
Caldiron, an expert on fascism, says that politicians from parties of fascism origin have been normalized in Italian politics since Berlusconi, the former prime minister, brought them into his government. .
“Meloni doesn’t have to do much to convince some Italians that she won’t bring back fascism in Italy,” Caldiron said.
But there is concern that she could lead Italy down the path of illiberal democracies like Hungary, where longtime prime minister Viktor Orban has ousted democratic institutions including liberal courts, the media independence and civil rights.
“It’s not fascism but it’s still a threat,” Caldiron said.
Meloni’s alliance with Orban has confounded EU leaders, but she is entangled in the EU’s line on the most pressing issue: Russia’s war with Ukraine. Her party has staunchly supported Ukraine’s sovereignty and has approved sending weapons to Ukrainian forces. Her coalition partners, Salvini and Berlusconi, are both admirers of Russian President Vladimir Putin but tried to distance themselves from Putin during the election campaign.
Cecilia Ferrara contributed reporting from Rome
