Italy’s far right on course to win election

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni has claimed victory in Italy’s election and is on course to become the country’s first female prime minister.

Meloni is widely expected to form Italy’s most right-wing government since World War Two.

That will alarm much of Europe as Italy is the EU’s third-biggest economy.

However, speaking after the vote, Meloni said her Brothers of Italy party would “govern for everyone” and would not betray people’s trust.

“Italians have sent a clear message in favor of a right-wing government led by Brothers of Italy,” she told reporters in Rome, holding up a sign saying “Thank you Italy”.

She is predicted to win up to 26% of the vote, based on provisional results, ahead of her closest rival Enrico Letta from the center-left.

Meloni’s right-wing alliance – which also includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia – now looks to have control of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, with around 44% of the vote.

Her own party’s dramatic success in the vote disguised the fact that her allies performed poorly, with Salvini’s party slipping below 9%, and Forza Italia even lower. Four years ago, Brothers of Italy won little more than 4% of the vote but this time benefited from staying out of the national unity government that collapsed in July.

The decision on who becomes Italy’s next leader is up to the president, Sergio Mattarella, and that will take time.

Although Giorgia Meloni has worked hard to soften her image, emphasizing her support for Ukraine and diluting anti-EU rhetoric, she leads a party rooted in a post-war movement that rose out of dictator Benito Mussolini’s fascists.

Agencies