June 23, 2021 - 9:51am
The result of the last Italian general election, in 2018, was extraordinary. Three things happened to turn the country’s politics upside down:
The governing centre-Left coalition lost hundreds of seats; the upstart Five Star Movement became the largest party; and Right-wing populist League became the biggest party in the centre-Right bloc (eclipsing Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia).
In fact, so much was going on that no one noticed that a much smaller Right-wing populist party, called Brothers of Italy (FdI), had scored a minor success by winning 4% of the vote.
We should have paid more attention. Because over the last three years, the Brothers — led by Giorgia Meloni — have slowly, but surely, gathered further support.
In recent polls, they’ve pulled into second place — not far behind the League. The latest poll shows them just 0.1% behind. If the trend holds, it’s almost certain that FdI will soon become Italy’s leading party.
Italy, SWG poll:
LEGA-ID: 21%
FdI-ECR: 21% (+1)
PD-S&D: 19%
M5S-NI: 16%
FI-EPP: 7%
A-S&D: 4% (+1)
SI-LEFT: 3% (+1)
A1-S&D: 2%
IV-RE: 2%
+E-RE: 2%
EV-G/EFA: 2%
CI~ECR: 1%+/- vs. 9-14 Jun. '21
Fieldwork: 16-21 June 2021
Sample size: 1,200
➤ https://t.co/yZmKw0FzEV pic.twitter.com/a2QUVX5VUI— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) June 21, 2021
This matters, because the combined strength of the Brothers and the League (plus their Right-wing allies) would be enough to score a big victory at the next general election. And, furthermore, if the Brothers take first place then Giorgia Meloni, and not the League’s Matteo Salvini, would become Prime Minister.
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SubscribeGood to have an article on Italy. Regarding the choice of Prime Minister, the,President seems to have a role. He approved Conti, Conte again after the recent coalition,and approved Draghi. Rather Lewis Carroll…
Fascinating. I haven’t been following Italian politics lately but I have always seen Georgia Meloni as an impressive performer who spoke a lot of sense and more controlled in action than Salvini. Good luck to her.
Good news.
I actually think we do need a few genuine, out-and-out fascist leaders to be elected around the world. I don’t mean people lefty scumbags consider fascists; to the woke, a fascist is anyone to the right of Pol Pot. No, I want an actual latter-day fascist. The left absolutely have it coming to them.
What, the camps and men in long leather cloaks?
There is a spectre haunting Europe. It is the spectre of nationalism.