Georgia Meloni would have lost in Switzerland
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The alliance of Giorgia Meloni’s “Fratelli d’Italia”, Matteo Salvini’s “Lega” (left) and Silvio Berlusconi’s “Forza Italia” (2nd from left) performed worse among Italians in Switzerland than in Italy .
A hundred years after Mussolini came to power, Italy is once again facing a far-right government. Giorgia Meloni, head of the Fratelli d’Italia, could become prime minister.
If the Italians in Switzerland had had the say in last Sunday’s election, the Meloni camp would have failed. Data from the Ministry of the Interior in Rome show: Swiss-Italian majority votes for centre-left alliance. While the Social Democrats and their allies in Italy only achieved 26 percent, they “victorious” in this country with around 40 percent (see chart).
A comparison of the election results.
The alliance of Meloni’s post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia, Matteo Salvini’s far-right Lega and Silvio Berlusconi’s ultra-nationalist Forza Italia achieved almost 37 percent in Switzerland – significantly more than in preferred elections, but still only second place. Since Italians in Switzerland could only vote for the right-wing alliance as a whole, it is not clear how many votes Melonis Fratelli d’Italia would have made as a single party.
The best result in Germany was achieved by the social democratic Partito Democratico. They reached 30 percent in the Chamber of Deputies and 36 percent in the Senate among the Swiss-Italians. The centre-left also outperformed Italy in most other western and central European countries. Italians in exile traditionally vote for the Democrats and their allies.
Voter turnout much lower
There are also big differences in voter turnout. Of the more than 300,000 Italians who are allowed to vote in Switzerland, only 28 percent vote - a historic low. In Italy, turnout was 64 percent. This is also considerably less than in previous elections.
Two Italians from Switzerland will also sit in Parliament in Rome in the coming years: Simone Billi from Wettingen AG for the right-wing national Lega and Toni Ricciardi from Geneva for the Social Democrats. The two represent the Italians abroad there.
Ricciardi is a historian and works on migration issues at the Sociological Institute of the University of Geneva. He is pleased with the election but concerned about the rise of the far-right. As a historian, he is familiar with the past: “It sounds like déjà vu. We are now exactly a century from Mussolini’s March on Rome.” He fears that the social climate in Italy could deteriorate massively.
Meanwhile, the mail haggling for a future government under Giorgia Meloni has begun there. The first cracks are already appearing in the right-wing alliance.
Salivini offside
Matteo Salvini, one of Meloni’s most prominent allies, could end up empty-handed in the race for key positions. Meloni is strictly against Salvini getting his post as Minister of the Interior back, reported the daily La Repubblica. Salvini’s Lega party fell to below nine percent in the elections.
The Ministry of the Interior is also out of the question for Salvini because he is being tried for an incident during his official term. He has to answer to the court in Palermo in the affair of the sea rescue ship “Open Arms” for deprivation of liberty and abuse of office. President Sergio Mattarella could therefore object to his comeback.
The civil sea rescuers were not assigned a port to dock in August 2019; they remained blocked off the island of Lampedusa with up to 150 people on board. From Salvini’s point of view, Italy was not responsible – he still defends his decision today.
Silvio Berlusconi’s hopes are unlikely to be fulfilled either. Before the election, there were rumors that he was flirting with the job of Senate President.
In terms of protocol, the office is the second highest in the republic after that of the state president. Because the tasks involved are complex and sometimes physically demanding, the ex-Prime Minister is, according to “Repubblica”, out of the question.
Berlusconi turns 86 on Thursday – a criminal case is also pending against him.