Long before Italy’s vote on Sunday, trends began to appear that Giorgia Meloni would become Italy’s first female prime minister. I’m saying this long ago because polls are suspended in Italy two weeks before the vote, so all predictions of Meloni’s victory were two weeks old or even earlier. That is why some people were also expressing the hope that some changes may come in the minds of people in these two weeks and some surprises may be seen in the results contrary to the estimates. But it didn’t happen.
Of the 63 per cent that had been counted as of Monday morning, the coalition led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party got 44 per cent of the vote. The coalition is now moving strongly towards securing the required majority to form the government. Meloni’s own party got 26 percent of the vote, while his coalition partner Matteo Salvini’s League got around 9 percent and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia got 8 percent. It will take time for the final results to come out and it will take several weeks for the government to be formed.
But whatever the gambit in all of that, the result is quite disturbing.
Meloni’s victory is historic in many ways, not only because she will become Italy’s first female prime minister, but also because she has been leading a party that has been around since the time of the fascist Mussolini—that is, after World War II— The most right-wing party in the mainstream in Italy. The Brothers of Italy party, which has roots in fascism, has grown in popularity in recent years. In the last elections held in the year 2018, it got only 4.5 percent of the votes.
But the concern here is not limited to Italy alone. In Sweden’s elections held just a week earlier, the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party with roots in neo-Nazism, became instrumental in forming the new government there. It came second in terms of number of seats in the general elections.
Earlier in April, Emmanuel Macron had barely won in the presidential elections held in France. With the support of the right-wing Merin La Penn, the axis of French politics has also shifted slightly from the left to the south.
This trend has been visible in Europe for some time now. Even in places where left-wing or centrist democratic parties have come to power, right-wing forces have been able to increase their support. Right-wing forces are already in power in Hungary and Poland. In this context, Italy’s results may point towards a move towards a new equation within Europe, particularly in the European Union. This will create new challenges and headaches for Europe.
The increasing power of the right-wing lobby will put pressure on democratic trends in EU policies and decisions. European powers are also worried because Italy, one of the first countries to have the concept of the European Union, will now become a challenge for it.
In Germany in 2017, the Alternative for Germany (AFD) created a sensation in European political circles by winning 12 percent of the vote in the elections. Not only did it become the third largest party, but it was officially the main opposition as the two top parties came together to form the government. It is the same party that was officially put on surveillance by the German government, and was the first party in Germany since the Nazis to be placed on such surveillance.
Right-wing forces all over the world think and act in the same way. They oppose free movement or immigration, question people with diverse gender orientations, fetter women’s freedom, climate change is rubbish for them, human rights talk is meaningless, and they believe that Traditional values and ways of life are threatened. Now this danger can come from anywhere in their eyes. In fact, by showing the fear of this danger, these forces strengthen themselves, we can see and hear its echo in all countries including India.
In Europe, the crisis, inflation, etc., after the Russian attack on Ukraine, have further strengthened the right-wing forces. In any political system, economic-social crises increase dissatisfaction with the government and strengthen the opposition. Right-wing forces often take full advantage of these situations by creating an atmosphere of fear. Italy suffered the most in the early stages of the Kovid epidemic. The frightening pictures of there were spreading all over the world. Such situations are most liked by those who do politics of fear.
Now watch, CNN reports that among the biggest admirers of Italy’s new leader Meloni is American Steve Bannon, who is considered the architect of the political ideology of former President Donald Trump and the father of the re-born American right-wing campaign.
The results of Sweden and Italy will also strengthen the right-wing forces in other places, ready to capitalize on the current crisis. Many see the rise of the Right as a major threat to civil rights, gender equality, equality and multiculturalism in modern Europe, the birthplace of social democracy. The Scandinavians have been in the forefront, but with Magdalena Andersen being made the country’s first female prime minister last year, Sweden has now brought to power the far-right Swedish Democrats, which started with a fusion of fascist forces and white sovereigns. These forces are garnering a lot of support among the younger generation, their leaders are also mostly young – this in itself is a warning sign.
Clearly, alarm bells have been rung for the real democratic and progressive forces in Europe. If they do not regain the lost ground soon, it will not take long to change the character of European politics.