Italy Falls to Right Wing Populism
“The most serious defeat in the history of the Italian left after the war…” — Minister Orlando
For the past two decades, Italian politics have been dominated by two parties, the centre left and centre right, but Sunday’s general election saw a major shift in Italian politics with the rise of a third party, the Five Star Movement, or M5S. M5S led by Luigi di Maio and the centre-right coalition swept the elections Sunday sending Italy tumbling into the populist wave that has been sweeping Central Europe. While the results are currently heavily skewed towards the far right M5S with around 32% of the popular vote, the outcome for Italy’s government has yet to be finally decided given an election deadlock due to electoral systems among other factors, so here’s where the country currently stands as Sunday’s vote continues to rattle Western Europe.
In short: “The center-right is the political winner of these elections: the data confirm that — after five years of opposition — it represents the first political area of the country: the contents of the center-right, from the cut to the fiscal pressure to a different politics on immigration, have been appreciated by the Italians.” explained one Italian minister.
The Italian Parliament is bicameral much like our Congress, and is made up of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Republic. After Sunday, M5S lead by candidate Luigi di Maio controls 221 Chamber seats, the centre-right coalition (Centro Destra) with 260 (with Salvini’s Northern League at 73 and Berlusconi’s FI at 59) and the outgoing centre-left Democratic Party (Centro Sinistra) led by candidate Matteo Renzi at 133.
While the centre-right coalition won the majority of Chamber seats and the popular vote, this is divided by the various parties that make up the coalition, which includes Forza Italia, led by Silvio Berlusconi, The Northern League, led by Salvini, and the Brothers of Italy led by Georgia Meloni. This camp only offers one candidate for Prime Minister, Salvini, as Burlesconi is banned from holding public office due to tax fraud. Salvini’s extremely anti-immigrant and euroskeptic Northern League party now dominates the coalition in the Chamber as well.
The centre-left’s PD candidate Matteo Renzi, Gentiloni’s predecessor until he attempted ambitious constitutional reforms that led to his resignation, was solidly trounced on Sunday. Although his party may yet get another shot in government if the winning M5S decides to form a coalition with the PD, Renzi has resigned following the results.
M5S could go either way in its political allegiances, as the party espouses an extremely populist vision. While viciously anti-establishment, Maio and M5S hold a number of very right wing positions on immigration and the Eurozone, aligning itself more with Salvini’s mass deportation and anti-euro than Merkel and Macron would like. Italy might not know exactly what its new government looks like, but its certain to be further right than anyone expected.
