For the first time since the First World War, a post-fascist party from the right, which opposes the strengthening of the European Union at the expense of the nation states, may today win the general elections in Italy.
It will also be the first time that a party, whose roots lie in the extreme right, will win the elections in one of the EU countries.
These elections may also bring for the first time in the history of Italy a woman as Prime Minister - Giorgia Maloney (45), leader of the "Brothers of Italy" party.
Maloney heads a coalition of center-right parties, which according to the latest polls is expected to win an absolute majority in the Italian Parliament and Senate, and return the right to power after 11 years.
Blame Russia.
Lata, photo: I.P.I
Meloni's coalition also includes "League" led by Matteo Salvini, which also has a very critical attitude towards the Union, and "Forza Italia" of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A party that explicitly calls for Italy's exit from the European Union - the "Italexit" party - which will receive According to the polls, 3% of the voters' votes.
The 51 million citizens with the right to vote in Italy will this time vote in reduced elected houses, in accordance with an electoral reform that was recently passed with the aim of streamlining and strengthening the government systems in the country.
The number of members in the parliament will be reduced from 630 to 400 and in the senate from 315 to 200.
The distribution of seats is by a mixed method - some by direct election and some by relative and regional election.
The election samples will be published when the polls close at midnight (Israel time), but due to the complexity of the election system, the results will probably only be known tomorrow or Tuesday.
statements and threats
In the European Union and the leading European capitals - Berlin, Paris and Spain, where there are left-of-center governments - there is an extremely heavy fear of the victory of the anti-European right in Italy, and of the consequences of such a victory for the future of the Union.
During the campaign, Maloney avoided militant statements against the European Union and worked to transmit messages of continuity, but a comment made by the President of the Union, Ursula von der Leyen, provoked extremely angry reactions in Maloney's coalition of parties.
The President of the European Union: "We will work with any democratic government that is willing to work with us, and if things go in a difficult direction - we have measures"
At a concert at Princeton University in the US over the weekend, the President of the Union was asked if she was worried about the elections in Italy. "We will work with any democratic government that is willing to work with us," she said, "if things go in a difficult direction, and I am referring to Hungary and Poland, we have measures."
Von der Leyen referred to the intention to impose economic sanctions on the right-wing governments in Warsaw and Budapest, which in the opinion of the Union violate the values of the rule of law, but in Italy they were quick to see this as interference in the electoral process through an indirect threat.
"What is this, a threat?" tweeted Salvini, "Respect the free and democratic vote and the sovereignty of the Italian people!".
Representatives of the right-wing coalition also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of meddling in their country's elections after he called on Italians to vote for parties in the outgoing government of Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank.
Draghi supported Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia following its invasion.
The Ukraine issue also received attention when Berlusconi stated in a television interview that "Putin was pushed to invade Ukraine to replace Zelensky with decent people."
The leader of the main center-left party, the "Democratic Party", Enrico Letta, for his part, accused Russia of intervening for the victory of the right-wing coalition, so that it would work to weaken the European Union.
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