Italy Parliamentary elections await at the end of September. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government fell last week after 17 months, slightly above Italy’s average since the end of World War II. The Mediterranean country, beset by an economic crisis, high unemployment and, above all, long-term political instability, is thus considering all options.

“Italy wants radical and important change and we need it through a democratic process,” he told a British newspaper Security Carlo Morelli, a former leftist party voter and now a supporter of the Italian Brothers. “I think Meloni is the right person who can make a difference.”

post-fascist party, as Italian Brothers call themselves, was founded in 2012 as the successor to the National Alliance. It directly follows the political movement founded in 1946 by former member of the dictator’s fascist party Benito Mussolini. Although Meloni rejects connections to Mussolini, at the same time he does not criticize his government in any way, writes the French server France24.

In 2018, the party won just four percent of the electorate, but remains the only opposition to Draghi’s government. “For a year and a half, whenever Italians were dissatisfied, their only option was the Brothers of Italy,” explains Marc Lazar of Sciences Po University in Paris.

The group is rapidly gaining popularity and today is leading the election survey by almost 25 percent.

“The identity of the party is closely tied to the post-fascist tradition. At the same time, combining traditional ideas with neoliberal conservatism, for example with free trade,” added Piero Ignazi of the University of Bologna.

mother and christian

The 45-year-old politician has been active in radical right-wing circles since his youth. He was born on the outskirts of Rome to poor parents from Sicily and Sardinia, far from the political elite of the big city.

He served as Youth Minister in Silvio Berlusconi’s government between 2008 and 2011 before founding his party. “I’m a woman, I’m a mother, I’m Italian, I’m a Christian and you can’t take that from me,” Meloni repeated her catchphrase.

Last year, he published a memoir that began with a rather unusual exclamation: “If this burns, then we will all burn together.” How show David Broder, who wrote a book about contemporary Italian post-fascism, is the lyric to the Ed Sheeran song that accompanies JRR Tolkien’s film adaptation of The Hobbit.

The politician tolerated pop culture and attracted voters with his explicit speech. Like other right-wing parties in Europe, it is strongly against migration and celebrates European or Italian civilization. He also opposes expanding the rights of sexual minorities or the European Union. And although in recent weeks it has tried to portray itself as a NATO ally, American newspapers Washington Post concluded that in the current war in Eastern Europe he would be far more pro-Ukrainian than his predecessors.

Allies on the right

But Meloniová also had allies, such as French politician Marine Le Pen or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He also recently spoke at an event organized by the far-right Spanish party Vox.

If he does win the September election, he could become a new icon of the European far right. It is hoped he can form a government with another far-right party, the League, and former prime minister Berlusconi’s centre-right party, the DPA said.

But this is the first time Italy has experienced an election campaign in the summer. In the hot months, the locals are often away and have little to do with political events. Even Maddalena Melappioniová, or an admirer of Meloniová, did not go to the polls in September: “She has courage and says good things, but the question is whether she will follow them.”