Brothers of Italy, a far-right party with neo-fascist roots, has won over 28% of Italy’s vote in the European parliamentary elections. The party is expected to get 24 seats in parliament, quadrupling what it took in 2019. These results in Italy reflect broader gains for far-right parties in several EU member states.
The party has been led by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni since 2014. She now finds herself in the role of “kingmaker”, holding the balance of power between the centre-right and far-right groupings in European parliament.
Elections to the European Parliament are of comparatively less importance than national elections. They are characterised by low voter turnout, so the results should not be viewed as a widespread popular endorsement of Meloni’s politics.
