In Italy, elections were held in many communities during Pentecost. It was the first test of mood since Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing coalition won elections last fall. It turns out that Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition clearly has the upper hand and is ahead in most communities.
It should be noted the shifts within the victorious right-wing camp: Meloni’s party “Brothers of Italy” is now also winning in the north, in Lombardy and Veneto, where the Lega party previously dominated. In cities like Brescia or Vicenza, Meloni’s party is now overtaking Matteo Salvini’s. For Salvini, the president of Lega, this is a disgrace, because his party has long controlled these northern regions unchallenged.
But in this election, Meloni also managed to win over people for her and her party who had previously voted for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. Berlusconi is seriously ill and has lost votes almost everywhere. Berlusconi’s party is in danger of disappearing.
Right-wing parties outperform left-wingers
The left opposition has no reason to celebrate. She had hoped to defeat Giorgia Meloni and the Right in this first test of temperament, at least in the big cities or in Tuscany, where the Left once had its strongholds.
But this hope was dashed, and the Whigs acquired important communes, such as Ancona or Brindisi. And it managed to keep cities that had long voted left, like Siena or Pisa.
This is also due to the fact that the two main centre-left parties, the Social Democratic Party and the 5-Star Movement, competed separately in many places, helping the right to win.
Meloni leaves the rest
For the newly elected leader of the Social Democrats, Eli Schlein, this is a bitter first defeat. After this fiasco, Schlein could soon come under pressure from within the party.
Only Giorgia Meloni came out of this election really strong. All political competition is now dwindling beside it.
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