West News Wire: The Brothers of Italy (FI) party of Giorgia Meloni is leading the right-wing coalition that won the Sunday snap parliamentary election.
Early election results made public by the Interior Ministry on Monday indicated that the coalition would hold a commanding majority in both houses of the Italian parliament after the bulk of votes had been tabulated.
After more than 90% of the votes were counted, the ministry reported that Brothers of Italy had a 26% lead. The partners in the bloc of FI, Matteo Salvini’s League and former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, were at 9% and 8%, respectively.
According to preliminary data, the center-left Democratic Party of former prime minister Enrico Letta has garnered slightly over 19% of the vote, placing itself as the conservatives’ main rival.
The turnout in the election, which was called after the collapse of Mario Draghi’s coalition government in July, was almost 64%.
Meloni has already celebrated victory, saying in a televised speech that “Italy chose us. We will not betray [the country], as we never have.”
“If we are called to govern this nation, we will do it for everyone, we will do it for all Italians and we will do it with the aim of uniting the people,” the 45-year-old declared.
The situation in Italy and the EU is “particularly complex,” meaning that it’s “time for being responsible,” Meloni said.
The new cabinet will be faced with a series of challenges that its predecessors couldn’t overcome, including soaring energy prices, the conflict in Ukraine, and a renewed slowdown of the Italian economy.
The results of the vote suggest that Italy is going to have its most right-wing government since World War II and Meloni as its first ever female prime minister. It also offers the country a rare opportunity for political stability after years of turbulence and fragile coalitions.
Brothers of Italy, which recently moderated its far-right message, has made remarkable gains in this election after winning just 4% of votes in 2018.
The rise of right-wingers in Italy is apparently causing concern in Brussels, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivering a veiled threat to them ahead of the vote.
