Special Envoy to Rome,
Giorgia Meloni won her bet.
Credited with more than 26% of the votes, according to partial results, and leaving his main competitors far behind, his national-conservative party, Fratelli d'Italia, won the legislative elections hands down.
At the head of a right-wing coalition formed with Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, he seems certain to dominate the next Parliament.
As for its leader, here she is, at 45, in a position to become the first woman president of the Council.
His victory, immediately hailed by various populist and far-right parties in Europe, is undoubtedly a historic turning point.
After the recent electoral breakthrough of the Democrats of Sweden, it is indeed the first time since the beginning of European construction that
"For many of us it is a night of pride, redemption, tears, dreams and memories"
, declared Giorgia Meloni, around 2:30 a.m., in front of the press and his staff who had gathered in a hotel in the center of Rome.
The results being unambiguous, she promised to govern
"for all Italians"
despite the tone of a campaign deemed
"violent and aggressive"
.
"[They] sent a clear message in support of a right-wing government led by Fratelli d'Italia
," she said.
On Facebook, she promised:
“We will not betray your trust.
We are ready to raise Italy”.
The Democratic Party (centre left) led by Enrico Letta, which came in second but was relegated to less than 20%, conceded defeat.
Its vice-president Debora Seracchiani evokes
"a sad evening for Italy"
.
The other parties come far behind, and the partners of Fratelli d'Italia obtain results which undoubtedly disappointed them.
Matteo Salvini's League, which won 17% of the vote in the 2018 legislative elections and 34% the following year in the European elections, collapsed with only 9% of the vote this time.
Silvio Berlusconi's party does only slightly worse (8%).
Both undoubtedly pay for their participation in the executive headed by Mario Draghi.
Only the Five Star Movement of Giuseppe Conte manages in this respect to limit the damage, by obtaining 15% of the votes - which is twice less, all the same, than in 2018.
LIVE - Legislative in Italy: Meloni claims the leadership of the next government
The President of the Republic, Sergio Matarella, should propose to Giorgia Meloni in the coming weeks to form a government.
Formal negotiations for the allocation of the main ministries will then begin between the four parties that make up the right-wing coalition (Fratelli d'Italia, the League, Forza Italia and Noi Moderati).
Italian observers estimate that the new executive should take office by the end of October.
Giorgia Meloni, who began her political ascent within the Italian Social Movement, a party founded in 1946 on the rubble of fascism in order to keep the flame alive, has endeavored throughout the campaign to offer a reassuring face .
Swearing that those nostalgic for Benito Mussolini have no place at his side, she condemned the darkest hours of his regime.
The fact that his party is mainly led by veterans of this movement sows doubt.
However, these sulphurous origins do not seem to have harmed him.
“The Italians, convinced that this period belongs to the past, do not care if it is fascist or not
, noted on the eve of the election the French historian Marc Lazar, who chairs the School of Government of the
His opponent from the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, has also understood that it was useless to attack him on this ground.
During this brief campaign against a backdrop of war and energy crisis, the head of Fratelli d'Italia tried to reassure European capitals, muting her attacks on the Brussels bureaucracy and unequivocally condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine.
But she also promised, sometimes in a very harsh tone, to better fight against immigration, insecurity and to defend family values.
“Yes to the natural family, no to LGBT lobbies!
Yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death!
Yes to the universality of the cross, no to Islamist violence!
Yes to our civilization and no to those who want to destroy it!”,
she notably proclaimed, in June, in front of supporters of the far-right Spanish party Vox.
Read alsoLe Cavaliere, “super Mario”, Il Capitano: why Italy is constantly looking for its savior
Even more than its ideological posture, however, Fratelli d'Italia owes its victory to the strong wind of "dégagisme" which is sweeping the country.
The formation of Giorgia Meloni, whose supporters salute above all the
"coherence"
, benefits from having remained in the opposition when the other parties chose to support the Draghi government.
With the center of Matteo Renzi, the League of Matteo Salvini and the Five Star Movement of Giuseppe Conte, Italy has experienced in recent years a succession of electoral breakthroughs which have succeeded as many dizzying falls.
Giorgia Meloni has promised to govern for five years.
It remains to be seen whether it will resist the fickleness of Italian opinion.
