Meloni Reaches Historic Levels in the Polls

With just over two weeks to go before the election of a new Italian legislature, Giorgia Meloni’s party has never been so popular, according to this poll presented by journalist and TV personality Enrico Mentana on the TG LA7 channel.

In one week, the Fratelli d’Italia party, of which Meloni is the leader, has gained another point and is now at 25.8%, its highest point since the beginning of the campaign. The Partito Democratico, on the other hand, has been losing ground, falling by almost a point to 21.4%. Almost five points now separate Meloni from her primary rival Enrico Letta. The other parties are experiencing marginal swings that will not significantly change the order of finish at the end of the day. 

The victory of the centre-right coalition is thus becoming clearer, justifying a cry of alarm from Letta: “Change the history of our country and prevent the alarm for Italian democracy from becoming a reality,” he tells his people. “The Right may get 70% of the seats, but the game is still wide open.”

Under the voting system introduced in 2017, known as the “Rosatellum” after its creator Ettore Rosato, a tidal wave in seats for the coalition is indeed possible. At the time, the Democratic Party supported this electoral reform. Today, Meloni criticises her opponents in the Democratic Party, who have made this situation possible and are thus the architects of their own misfortune.

For his part, the former prime minister, Guiseppe Conte, has attacked Meloni on her social policy and her desire to put an end to the minimum income or citizens’ income—reddito di cittadinanza. He accuses her of wanting to “declare war on the poor.”The game is still open as 40% of Italians have not yet made their final choice. The useful vote argument does not seem to convince them, and the latest observations suggest that the undecideds would turn either to Conte’s Five Star Movement or to Azione-Italia viva behind Matteo Renzi.