Weeks before the 100th anniversary of Mussolini’s rise to power, Italy is on the verge of electing another leader from the far right. Here’s what you need to know about the race and the woman who’s poised to lead the nation.
What to know about the election
All eyes are on Italy’s vote to choose its next prime minister, and all signs indicate that the nation will elect its first female leader in Giorgia Meloni. The 45-year-old leads the Brothers of Italy, which has roots in the country’s neo-fascist movement. Early results put an alliance of three far-right parties led by the Brothers of Italy on track to win at least 44% of the vote. With votes counted at nearly two-thirds of polling stations, the Brothers of Italy had won 26%, easily making it the country’s biggest political party.
Meloni has led Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) since 2014. It’s an upstart faction that has its origins in the Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement) — a neo-fascist party created by supporters of the dictator Benito Mussolini. Meloni already has plans to build a conservative coalition that would include two smaller parties: the far-right Lega (League), which has built a base with its anti-immigrant rhetoric, and Forza Italia, a center-right party led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Based on this morning’s results so far, Meloni will usher in Italy’s first far-right government since the end of World War II.
Who Is Giorgia Meloni?
The 45-year-old mother has for years existed on the fringes of Italian politics, going overlooked in the mostly male domain. But as far-right policies have been pushed into the Italian mainstream, she’s steadily gained support.
Meloni has openly criticized the “LGBT lobby” and argues that “Christin values and traditional gender norms” have come under attack — a stance which made her the subject of a satirical dance song that went viral in 2019. However, the hit only boosted her popularity and Meloni embraced the notoriety, even naming her memoir I am Giorgia — a nod to the song. She also appears to subscribe to the “great replacement theory” — an extremist belief that a shadowy cabal of global elites is attempting to diminish the influence of white people by importing nonwhite migrants into majority white nations. She’s got a track record of defending far-right leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.
The conservative politician is also a Lord of the Rings superfan, an interest she cultivated as a teen involved in the Italian Social Movement. The party used the fantasy novels as a way to recast fascist ideas, NPR reports. “Tolkien gave them new ways to talk about their ideology where they were not the bad guys but communitarians protecting their kingdoms and traditions,” an Italian journalist told the outlet.
As a teen campaigning for the party, she also praised Mussolini, saying he “was a good politician.”
“Everything he did, he did for Italy,” she said in recently resurfaced footage.
What does the election mean for Europe?
Europe is seeing a surge in far-right movements. Sweden last month elected a party with roots in neo-Nazism, while nationalist Marine Le Pen nearly defeated the centrist Emmanuel Macron in France. If Meloni were to come to power, it could push Italy into the continent’s so-called illiberal bloc, along with Hungary and Poland, where the E.U. warns democracy is receding. The E.U. has chastised the two countries for attempting to undermine the strength of the 27-nation union by putting their domestic policies ahead of shared European law. Macron has also called on the E.U. to stop the rise of “anti-liberal conservatism” which he believes is a threat to the bloc’s democratic standards.
Meloni has in the past applauded Hungary’s autocratic president and Le Pen. But recently, to appeal to more centrist voters, she has attempted to soften her stance, pledging that under her leadership, Italy would not take an “authoritarian turn.” If Meloni wins, which early polling indicates is likely, it would still take weeks to form a new government.
