Posted on September 26, 2022

Giorgia Meloni and Her Far-Right Brothers of Italy Party Top Vote in Italian Elections

Matt Clinch, CNBC, September 25, 2022

Italians are on course to elect the country’s first female prime minister and the first government led by the far-right since the end of World War II.

Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party are set to gain 26.4% of the vote, according to an exit poll late Sunday night. The party is in a broad right-wing coalition with Lega, under Matteo Salvini, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and a more minor coalition partner, Noi Moderati.

This alliance is set to win 44% of the vote, according to exit polls, enough to gain a parliamentary majority with the center-left bloc on 27.4%. Early projections from the actual election results are due Monday morning.

Reuters reported that Italy’s main center-left party conceded defeat early Monday morning.

Reaching political consensus and cementing a coalition could take weeks and a new government may only come to power in October. {snip}

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party was created in 2012, but has its roots in Italy’s 20th century neo-fascist movement that emerged after the death of fascist leader Benito Mussolini in 1945. A 2019 speech from Meloni helped her become a household name when an unsuspecting DJ remixed her words (“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian”) into a dance music track, which went viral.

After winning 4% of the vote in 2018′s election, Brothers of Italy and 45-year-old Meloni used their position in opposition to springboard into the mainstream. Meloni has taken great measures to appeal to a more moderate center-right majority in Italian society and claims to have rid her party of fascist elements.

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