Italians to the polls: Far right eyes victory
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.