Turnout was down sharply in Sunday’s legislative elections in Italy, where a far-right-dominated conservative coalition could win an outright majority and bring post-fascist leader Giorgia Meloni to power.
According to the Interior Ministry, turnout was 50% at 5 p.m. GMT, down eight points from the 2018 legislative elections.
The decline is particularly marked in the southern regions of the peninsula (-12 points), which had massively contributed to the victory four years ago of the 5 Star Movement, an anti-system formation yet credited with having established in 2019 a ” minimum citizen income” for the poorest.
At only 45 years old, Giorgia Meloni, leader of Fratelli d’Italia, given around 25% in the latest polls, is favorite to lead a coalition government in which the far right would largely dominate the classical right.
“Today you can help write history,” she tweeted to her followers on Sunday morning. On TikTok, she posted a video where she poses with a melon in each hand that hides her chest, playing on the meaning of her name.
In the event of victory, Ms. Meloni would become the first Italian “president of the council” and the first post-fascist head of government in a founding country of the European Union.
This ex-fan of Mussolini, whose motto is “God, fatherland, family”, succeeded in demonizing her party and catalyzing on her behalf the discontent and frustrations of her compatriots by resolutely opposing the government of national unity. by Mario Draghi.
Unpredictable
But the mass is not said: “unpredictable, the elections are played on emotion and at the last moment”, reminds AFP Emiliana De Blasio, professor of sociology at the Luiss University of Rome, while emphasizing the key role of the undecided, estimated at around 20%.
To hope to have room in parliament, Ms Meloni will need her allies, Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which according to pollsters have both lost ground to her advantage.
“I look forward to returning from tomorrow to the government of this extraordinary country,” said Matteo Salvini, former interior minister, in a polling station in Milan.
The results will be crucial for the political future of the boss of the Democratic Party (PD, center-left), the former head of government Enrico Letta, who had called for a “useful vote” to block the far right.
Economic risk
Whichever government emerges from the elections, its path already appears to be strewn with pitfalls. While government instability is chronic, experts already agree on the short life expectancy of this coalition where Meloni will have a lot to do to manage his cumbersome allies Berlusconi and Salvini.
The latter also addressed kindnesses from a distance on Sunday. After voting, Silvio Berlusconi had lunch with supporters to whom he confided that Salvini “had to be framed”, adding: “He never worked”.
On Twitter, Salvini soberly replied: “Whatever he says, I will always love Silvio Berlusconi”.
The future government will also have to manage the crisis caused by soaring prices, a colossal debt representing 150% of GDP, the highest ratio in the euro zone behind Greece, and the obtaining of some 200 billion euros granted by the EU as part of its recovery plan in exchange for reforms.
“Italy cannot afford to deprive itself of these sums of money”, observes for AFP the historian Marc Lazar.
Giorgia Meloni is also calling for a “revision of the rules of the Stability Pact”, suspended due to the health crisis, which set a ceiling of 3% of GDP for the deficit and 60% for the debt.
On social issues, this pure Roman girl is ultra-conservative: “Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby! Yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology! Yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death! “, proclaimed in June the one who also promises to fight “against the Islamization of Europe”.
His coming to power would also result in the padlocking of the country, where tens of thousands of migrants land each year, a prospect that worries humanitarian NGOs.
Polling stations close at 9 p.m. GMT, when the first exit polls will give a preview of the results.