Italians to the polls: Far right eyes victory
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Over 50m of Italians were called to vote yesterday in an election that is set to upset the country’s allies in Nato and Brussels.
Opinion polls saw the right-wing alliance led by Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party set to win.
If she becomes prime minister, Meloni plans to link arms with far-right populist Matteo Salvini and former prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi – both men having historical close ties to Russia.
But a late surge by the left-leaning 5-Star Movement could jeopardise the alliance’s chances of winning a majority.
Italy’s post-Mussolini constitution has ‘antibodies’ that provide for balancing measures on those in power, meaning that President Mattarella could influence the new PM’s choice of government ministers.