"
I think I can lead a government
", ignited Tuesday evening August 23 during his first major electoral meeting Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right Fratelli d'Italia (FDI) party, which is leading the polls in view of the legislative elections of September 25.
“
In all conscience, I tell you that I think I can guide a government
” national, she launched in front of a crowd of more than a thousand people won over to her cause, who welcomed her with cries of “
Giorgia, Giorgia!
with dozens of FDI flags in a small square in central Ancona, eastern Italy.
Read alsoItaly: “Giorgia Meloni wants to present his party as conservative and traditionalist”
Despite her past in post-fascist spheres and her controversial statements, this 45-year-old Roman is the favorite to become the first woman to lead a government in Italian history after the next elections.
"
He is a simple and friendly person who has clear ideas (...) for employment, pensions, for everything
", confides to AFP Paolo Berardi, a worker in his fifties present at the meeting.
"
I used to vote for (the anti-migrant and sovereignist leader of the League) Matteo Salvini (...) Let's try change
".
To kick off her campaign, Giorgia Meloni chose Ancona, a city of around 100,000 people on the Adriatic and capital of the Marche region, whose president Francesco Acquaroli is a member of his party. , proof according to her that the FDI "
is able to govern
".
Behind the smooth face of this blonde woman with blue eyes who loves casual chic hides an iron will, palpable in the combative, even vehement tone that she uses in public.
“
I want people to have the state as an ally and not as a boss
,” she says to the crowd, which applauds wildly.
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“Finally a woman”
"
I like her because she is a woman, finally a woman, and a concrete person who does not speak the language of wood
", enthuses Dora, a sixty-something woman who arrived from Monza (north) who refuses to give her last name. .
The right-wing coalition, in which the FDI is the main party alongside Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, leads with 46%, well ahead of the left, at 30%, in the surveys. opinion.
Its program is in unison with other far-right European formations: a rage on immigration and "
Islamization
", anti-European sovereignty, the fight against
LGBT "
lobbies ".
Read alsoGiorgia Meloni, mother superior of the Brothers of Italy
Referring to the rise in energy prices, she thus accused the EU “
which has not considered it necessary to discuss an energy strategy
” so far.
"
I think Giorgia Meloni is a very intelligent person (...), I have confidence in her and I am convinced that she will advance the solution of the problems of young people and pensioners
", says Istrian Giovanni, the regional secretary of a pensioners association.
"I am not afraid"
Latest controversy to date: Giorgia Meloni posted on social networks the video of a rape on Sunday in Piacenza (north) of a Ukrainian woman by a 27-year-old asylum seeker from New Guinea, arousing the despair of the victim and the indignation of the left who denounced the instrumentalization of this affair.
The video was later masked by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for violating their guidelines.
The electoral campaign has so far been rather bleak and has taken place mainly in the media and on social networks, with most Italians still in the summer torpor.
“
August was a lost month, not a single vote was won by anyone.
Morose climate, weak messages, little enthusiasm with old subjects that do not appeal to people
, ”analyzed political scientist Giovanni Orsina, from the Luiss University of Rome.
Read alsoItaly: “fascism belongs to history”, according to Giorgia Meloni
Giorgia Meloni tries to change the game: dozens of members of the FDI youth movement distributed rubber bracelets with “
Meloni president
” written on them and a kind of crossword “
Send home the left and the 5 Star Movement
", anti-system and member of all Italian governments since 2018. And to mobilize the crowd, she launched at the end of her meeting:"
it's a personal battle, I want to liberate this nation (...) I don't have don't be afraid, I'm ready to lead this battle, I'm ready, how about you?
"
Yeah! "
“replies the assistance.
