Italy's general election today, Sunday, September 25 is expected to make history as a right-wing candidate who campaigned on a nationalist platform is expected to become the country’s first female prime minister.
Will Italy be the next country to exit the European Union?
There are signs Italy could start efforts to be the second country to exit the European Union after Britain as Italians wind up today's general election.
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Opinion polls have been putting right wing female candidate Giorgia Meloni, a member of the very conservative Brothers of Italy Party, on top of favourability. She has previously complained of "Brussels techno bureaucrats", a sign that she might swing the country away from the European Union.
Meloni leads the Brothers of Italy party which could go into coalition with Matteo Salvini's League party and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia - all parties on the right of Italian politics.
While Meloni said last month that she wanted to work "in compliance with European regulations and in agreement with the European Commission" to use EU resources to promote Italy's growth, electing Meloni would still be a big move for Italy that would send shockwaves through Europe.
"I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian," Giorgia Meloni told supporters in central Rome at a now-viral rally moment in 2019. "No one will take that away from me."
Meloni has campaigned on a platform of cracking down on illegal immigration by rolling out a blockade to patrol the Mediterranean, cutting taxes, and protecting traditional family values.
She argues the European Union is too bureaucratic but has said she wouldn’t push for any "Italexit," and depicts herself as a staunch backer of NATO. She rallies against what she calls LGBT "lobbies" and promotes a "Christian identity" in Europe.
"My greatest desire is to lift up, to lift our nation up again from decline," Meloni told the media recently.
Analyst Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform told Voice of America that Meloni’s rise in popularity is credited to her policy and economic views, as well as her "down to earth" approach to voters.
"In part it's about her policy platform, her socially conservative views, her economic views — which are also quite social in a way in terms of, for example, raising people's pensions or benefits," said analyst Luigi Scazzieri.
"But it's also in large part due to her own personal appeal. And I would single out here, for example, her way of talking, which is very down to earth. It’s very effective in connecting with ordinary voters," Scazzieri added. "Finally, she also benefits from not having been anywhere near government for the past 10 years, and so she can credibly say that she represents something new."
In recent days, there have surfaced videos on social media showing Italians tearing the EU flag and replacing it with an Italian one, a sign that Italians are slowly clamouring to exit the EU and be sovereign again. And Meloni could be the Moses that breaks them away.
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