Italy election: Meloni says voters ‘chose’ center-right bloc

International

-DW News

Rome,
Sep
26:
The
center-right
coalition
led
by
nationalist
Giorgia
Meloni
secured
a
parliamentary
majority
in
Italy’s
general
elections
on
Sunday,according
to
exit
polls.

Speaking
early
Monday,
Meloni
said
Italians
had
sent
“a
clear
message”
in
backing
her
alliance.

“If
we
are
called
upon
to
govern
this
nation,
we
will
do
so
for
all
Italians,
with
the
aim
of
uniting
the
people,
of
exalting
what
unites
them
rather
than
what
divides
them,”
she
told
reporters.
“We
will
not
betray
your
trust.”

Her
remarks
came
shortly
after
the
main
center-left
group,
the
Democratic
Party,
conceded
defeat.

Italy
expected
to
swing
far-right
in
upcoming
election

“This
is
a
sad
evening
for
the
country,”
Debora
Serracchiani,
a
senior
PD
lawmaker,
told
reporters
in
the
party’s
first
official
comment
on
the
result.
“[The
right]
has
the
majority
in
parliament,
but
not
in
the
country,”
Serracchiani
said.

What
did
exit
polls
indicate?

Polls
closed
at
11
p.m.
local
time
(2100
GMT)
on
Sunday.
Exit
polls
had
shown
the
alliance
led
by
Meloni’s
Brothers
of
Italy
party
securing
around
45%
of
the
vote.
Meloni’s
own
party
had
26%
of
that
by
itself,
as
the
strongest
single
group
in
the
polls.

The
center-left
alliance,
led
by
the
Democratic
Party,
was
the
second-strongest
bloc,
with
29%.

The
populist
5
Star
Movement
grabbed
16.5%,
following
reports
of
a
last-minute
surge
in
support
after
a
polling
moratorium
had
been
imposed.

Some
51.5
million
people
were
eligible
to
cast
ballots.
The
Interior
Ministry
put
the
overall
turnout
at
64%
—
far
lower
than
the
2018
election,
which
had
seen
a
record
low
turnout
of
73%.

The
projections
indicated
that
the
center-right
alliance
was
winning
between
227
and
257
of
the
400
seats
in
the
lower
house
of
parliament
and
111-131
of
the
200
Senate
seats.

The
center-left
alliance,
led
by
the
Democratic
Party,
was
projected
to
have
secured
88
seats
in
the
lower
house
and
42
seats
in
the
Senate.

Who
is
part
of
the
winning
coalition?

Meloni’s
Brothers
of
Italy
party
is
in
an
alliance
with
the
anti-migrant
League
party
of
Matteo
Salvini,
as
well
as
the
far-right
Forza
Italia
led
by
former
Prime
Minister
Silvio
Berlusconi.

Italy:
Major
fire,
injuries
at
chemical
plant
outside
Milan

Meloni
campaigned
on
a
motto
of
“God,
country
and
family.”
The
45-year-old
nationalist
has
downplayed
her
party’s
post-fascist
roots
and
sought
to
promote
it
as
a
mainstream
conservative
group.

She
has
rejected
accusations
of
being
a
fascist,
and
increasingly
toned
down
some
of
the
more
far-right
rhetoric.

However,
in
June,
she
railed
against
a
so-called
LGBT
lobby,
“mass
immigration”
and
“big
international
finance.”

Although
she
has
been
known
for
her
euroskeptic
stance,
she
has
abandoned
her
calls
for
Rome
to
ditch
the
eurozone.
Instead,
she
wants
Italy
to
assert
its
interests
more
in
the
European
Union.

How
have
right-wing
politicians
in
Europe
reacted?

Hungary’s
Prime
Minister
Viktor
Orban
and
his
Polish
counterpart,
Mateusz
Morawiecki,
congratulated
Meloni
after
exit
polls
showed
that
her
coalition
was
winning.

“In
these
difficult
times,
we
need
more
than
ever
friends
who
share
a
common
vision
and
approach
to
Europe’s
challenges,”
said
Orban’s
political
adviser
Balazs
Orban.

Lawmakers
from
the

German
far-right
AfD
party
and
the
French
National
Rally
party
have
also
hailed
the
right-wing
victory
in
Italy.

Italy:
Reduced
sentences
for
US
men
in
police
slaying

“We
celebrate
with
Italy!”
AfD
lawmaker
Beatrix
von
Storch
wrote
late
Sunday
on
Twitter.

“Sweden
in
the
north,
Italy
in
the
south:
left-wing
governments
are
yesterday’s
news,”
she
wrote,
referring
to
Sweden’s
recent
election
results
that
marked
a
significant
victory
for
the
right-wing
Sweden
Democrats.

French
European
Parliament
member
Jordan
Bardella
said
Italians
had
given
European
Commission
President
Ursula
von
der
Leyen
“a
lesson
in
humility.”

Last
week,
von
der
Leyen
said
Brussels
had
tools
at
its
disposal
to
use
if
a
new
right-wing
government
in
Italy
fails
to
follow
EU
rules.
Her
remarks
were
an
apparent
reference
to
a
mechanism
that
allows
the
EU
to
suspend
funding
for
members
that
it
deems
undemocratic.

“No
threat
of
any
kind
can
stop
democracy,”
Bardella
said.
“The
people
of
Europe
are
raising
their
heads
and
taking
their
destiny
back
into
their
own
hands.”

What
triggered
the
snap
election?

The
election
came
about
in
the
wake
of
outgoing
Prime
Minister
Mario
Draghi’s
fragile
coalition
collapsing,
as
part
of
a
process
that
began
when
the
5
Star
Movement
withdrew
its
support
from
the
government.
Draghi
resigned
in
July,
unable
to
push
through
an
aid
package
designed
to
counter
inflation.

Italy’s
complicated
electoral
system
was
revised
in
time
for
the
2018
elections,
meaning
that
a
party
or
group
is
no
longer
guaranteed
a
majority
if
it
can
attain
40%
of
the
vote
as
was
the
case
beforehand.

Nevertheless,
polls
from
two
weeks
before
the
ballot,
after
which
a
freeze
on
opinion
polling
took
effect,
suggested
that
Meloni’s
right-wing
alliance
was
poised
to
claim
majorities
in
both
houses.

Given
the
complicated
electoral
system
and
the
likelihood
of
coalition
negotiations,
the
first
session
of
the
new
parliament
and
formation
of
a
new
government
is
liable
to
take
weeks,
as
it
tends
to
in
Germany
after
a
national
vote.

Source: DW