Prime Minister Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia are facing clear victories against left-wing candidates in the two most populous regions of Lombardy and Lazio. In this way, the country’s right is also cementing its power regionally. However, the low voter turnout plays into your hands.
Italy’s right-wing coalition government won key victories in regional elections on Sunday and Monday in Italy’s two most populous regions. The candidates supported by the coalition of the ultra-right Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) party led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing national Lega led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing conservative Forza Italia (FI) won according to preliminary results in Lombardy and Lazio .
Meloni congratulated the candidates on Twitter: “Congratulations to President Francesco Rocca and President Attilio Fontana for the clear victory in the regional elections.” The result “consolidates the unity of the right and strengthens government action,” she added.
According to the projections of the public broadcaster Rai, Lega candidate Fontana in Lombardy, with its capital Milan, the most important Italian economic metropolis, was well ahead of the left-wing candidate with 33.6 percent with 54.4 percent of the votes. In the Lazio region, where Italy’s capital Rome is located, former Italian Red Cross President Rocca topped 52.1 percent, ahead of leftist candidate Alessio D’Amato with 34.7 percent.
However, the election was characterized by an extremely low turnout. In Lazio, for example, only 37.2 percent (2018: 66.5 percent) of those eligible to vote voted. In Lombardy it was 41.6 percent (73.1 percent). A look at the individual results of the coalition parties shows that the FI and Lega lost votes, while the FdI continued to advance.
According to national polls, the balance of power in the right-wing camp appears clear: According to a survey by the Youtrend Institute published in early February, FdI currently has almost 30 percent of national elections, the right-wing Lega just under nine and the FI of long-standing Prime Minister Berlusconi seven percent.
