Italy: in the home stretch before the elections, Giorgia Meloni raises her voice

Leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, addresses a rally as she begins her political campaign ahead of the September 25 general election, in Ancona, Italy, Tuesday, August 23, 2022. © AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Less than a week before the legislative elections in Italy, the electoral campaign is heating up.

To make a difference, in this last straight line before voting day, the candidates of Ms. Meloni's party raised their voices, sometimes becoming embarrassing for their leader. 

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Rome

,

With a good head start on its rivals in the polls,

's Fratelli d'Italia party has a good chance of leading the next government in a coalition of the right.

And to come to power,

Giorgia Meloni went on the all-out offensive.

She attacks all the obstacles like Salvini, her rival in the coalition, her opponents on the left or even the government of Mario Draghi and the European Union.

And in the party, the mobilization is general.

His right-hand man accused the Minister of Foreign Affairs of speaking ill of Italy around the world, another of his followers denounced a double game by the Germans on Russian gas, one of his most important candidates questioned question the primacy of Community law over Italian law, which is the basis of what has been the European Union for 60 years. 

Meloni

, more than ever, promises the Italians a sovereign and nationalist future, and some in the party become inflamed.

A local Sicilian official, a well-placed candidate for a deputy seat, has also slipped.

In a Facebook post, he boasted of his admiration for Mussolini, and more so, for Adolf Hitler.

A declaration which earned him to be suspended from the party. 

An isolated case, but worrying.

With her national-populist accents, Giorgia Meloni risks freeing the voices of those nostalgic for fascism. 

►Also listen: Giorgia Meloni, the new face of the Italian far right

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Italy