Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni is poised to become Italy’s first female prime minister and the country’s most right-leaning leader in decades following Sunday’s election.
While there are still likely weeks left in the process before a coalition is established through party machinations, Meloni’s party held a commanding 26-point lead over the center-left Democratic Party at 19 points, making her party the favorite to form a government in the preliminary results as of Monday morning, the BBC reported.
GIORGIA MELONI’S FAR-RIGHT ALLIANCE LEADS IN ITALIAN ELECTIONS
“It’s a victory I want to dedicate to everyone who is no longer with us and wanted this night,” Meloni proclaimed after the election, per CNN. “Starting tomorrow, we have to show our value. … Italians chose us, and we will not betray it, as we never have.”
The Brothers of Italy party, referred to as the “Fratelli d’Italia” in Italian, is expected to align with the center-right Forza Italia and right-wing Matteo Salvini’s League Party, which each scored about 8 points, the BBC reported.
Meloni, 45, has campaigned as a euroskeptic populist and has taken a hard-line approach on immigration issues. She advocated the use of naval blockades to stymie illegal immigration stemming from Africa and has peddled theories about a left-wing scheme to “finance the invasion to replace Italians with immigrants,” NBC reported.
In addition to echoing sentiments from the “great replacement theory,” a conspiracy theory that contends elites in society are banding together to replace white people with nonwhite people, Meloni has positioned herself as a staunch nationalist. Notably, she has pledged to continue Italy’s backing of Ukraine amid the bloody Russian invasion. One of her allies, Salvini of the League Party, has previously argued in favor of rethinking sanctions on Russia.
Critics have argued that her Brothers of Italy party harbors elements that can trace back to Benito Mussolini’s fascism, per NBC. Meloni has adamantly rebuffed that, instead comparing her movement to the center-right United Kingdom Conservative Party.
Throughout her political career, she has described abortion as a “tragedy” and has mused about reevaluating same-sex unions, which were legalized in 2016, per CNN. Same-sex marriage is not legalized nationwide in Italy, but couples can form unions.
The snap election Sunday came about after political squabbling ushered in the collapse of current Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s governing coalition over the summer.
“When this night is over, we must remember that we are not at the endpoint, we are at the starting point. It is from tomorrow that we must prove our worth,” Meloni proclaimed as election results poured in, according to Reuters.
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Meloni’s apparent victory joins a bevy of strong showings by right-wing groups across Europe. For example, in April, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban won reelection, and France’s Marine Le Pen ran a strong but unsuccessful bid for president back in April.
Should Meloni succeed in her quest to form a government, she will likely take the reins of prime minister in October.
