Determined, stubborn, sarcastic and with a shrewd knack of casting aside her enemies, a trait developed after being bullied over her weight as a child, Giorgia Meloni, 45, is on the verge of becoming Italy’s first female prime minister.
Her Brothers of Italy party, an offspring of fascism, is riding high in opinion polls, edging up even further in final polls to widen the gap with the centre-left Democratic party. The lead is forecast to give Meloni and her alliance, composed of Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, a comfortable victory in general elections on 25 September.
