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Italy: Right-wing triumphs in elections, Meloni set to become PM

Giorgia Meloni looks set to become Italy’s first woman prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since WWII after leading a conservative alliance to triumph at Sunday’s election.

Provisional results showed the rightist bloc should have a strong majority in both houses of parliament, potentially giving Italy a rare chance of political stability after years of upheaval and fragile coalitions.

Exit polls predict that right-wing Giorgia Meloni is set to win Italy's elections, meaning she is on course to become Italy’s first female PM

— Sophie Corcoran (@sophielouisecc) September 25, 2022
However, Ms Meloni and her allies face a daunting list of challenges, including soaring energy prices, war in Ukraine and renewed slowdown in the euro zone’s third largest economy.

“We must remember that we are not at the end point, we are at the starting point. It is from tomorrow that we must prove our worth,” the 45-year-old politician told cheering supporters of her nationalist Brothers of Italy party early Monday morning.

Ms Meloni has pledged to back Western policy on Ukraine and not take risks with Italy’s fragile finances.

European capitals and financial markets will carefully scrutinise her early moves, given her eurosceptic past and her allies’ ambivalent position on Russia.

’Time for being responsible’
In her victory speech, Ms Meloni struck a conciliatory tone.

“If we are called on to govern this nation we will do it for all the Italians, with the aim of uniting the people and focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us,” she said, stressing that “this is a time for being responsible.”

This is Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

I’ve never heard any politician so perfectly explain what we’re up against and why we fight.

When you watch this video, you’ll quickly realize why the establishment is afraid of her.
pic.twitter.com/CswR8o3mjg

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 26, 2022
Projections based on well over half the votes counted put the Brothers of Italy on almost 26 percent, up from just 4 percent in the last national election in 2018, as voters opted for a largely untried figure to sort out the nation’s many problems.

By contrast, her main ally suffered a disastrous night, with Matteo Salvini’s League picking up around 9 percent of the vote, down from more than 17 percent four years ago, and being overtaken by Ms Meloni in all its traditional fiefdoms in the north.

The other major conservative party, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, also scored around 8 percent, leaving Brothers of Italy the dominant partner.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki congratulated Ms Meloni on her victory on social media.

Congratulations @GiorgiaMeloni! ?

— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) September 25, 2022
MEP and the country’s former PM Beata Szydło also referred to the Italian elections. “I am glad that the party from the European Conservatives and Reformists group is taking responsibility for another European country,” she wrote.

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