Wednesday, September 14, 2022

‘We’ve Tried Them All, Except Meloni’: Far-right Leader Tipped to Become Italy’s First Female PM

FRANCE 24: As yet unaffected by the slings and arrows of governing, Giorgia Meloni is poised to carry her hard-right Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) party to victory in Italy’s general election on September 25, putting her in the running to become the country’s first female prime minister. FRANCE 24 reports from Italy’s economic capital Milan, where the new darling of the right has eclipsed former champions of the cause Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi.

Locals enjoying a late-afternoon stroll, couples lapping at fast-melting ice cream cones and tourists angling for the best shot of Milan’s imposing Gothic cathedral – just another Sunday in piazza Duomo, one might say, were it not for the flag-waving crowd gathered around a fiery orator with a thick Roman accent.

The speaker, Giorgia Meloni, is the leader of Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia or FdI), a far-right outfit that has emerged from its south-central power base to become a dominant force all the way up to the Alps. At 45, she is the favourite to become Italy’s first female prime minister after the country’s general election on September 25.

Pollsters predict Meloni’s party will emerge as Italy’s largest, taking a quarter of the vote – a more than fivefold increase from its score at the last general election in 2018. She is set to leapfrog her better-known right-wing allies Matteo Salvini and the seemingly eternal Silvio Berlusconi, easily surpassing their combined tallies. » | Benjamin Dodman | Wednesday, September 14, 2022

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