Italian Election Dominated by Populist, Far Right Forces

On Sunday, Italians cast a majority of its votes to far right and populist forces in its national election, as a result of their disillusionment and discontent with the European political establishment. This election was the first in five years and has been viewed as an indication of rising populist forces, backed by anti-immigrant sentiments in Italy. We might see Populist invasion into the mainstream politics in Italy realizing into reality.

In the past year, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France have pushed back populist and far-right forces, pointing to the general threat of populist beliefs in European stability and unity.

These threats are a result of pushback against the European Union, which could be traced back to the Brussel treatments of Italians and temptation to drop the euro. If these populist and far-right forces were to prevail, it would most likely lead to an Italian government that is less dedicated in establishing a united Europe. Italy has been key to the founding of European Union and a major economy of the Mediterranean, and the possibility of losing Italy to far-right influences would be a blow to European unity and help the agenda of Russia and China to weaken the European bloc and disintegrate the EU.

Italy has suffered from a slowdown in its Economy, a surge in migration and many discontent sentiments internally towards those in power. The seizing of power of far-right and populist forces will shake up Italy’s stability even further, which could disturb the peace of Europe in the larger picture as well.

However, since no one party or coalition is winning the majority support, the election process will be stretched out for weeks and which power will take over remains unknown at this point. The Five Star Movement, a web-based populist party, is less a decade old yet has snatched over a third of the votes cast in the most recent election, showing a fast progress and grasp for power despite its relative new age. Five Star’s victory so far casts the question of who will be joining its wings.

Besides the gains of Five Star, the far-right League has also been gaining support steadily. The party leader, Matteo Salvini, has been unapologetically attacking migrants and demanding their expulsion from the country. His party has gained 18% of the votes i the preliminary election and that is a number higher than the votes gained by the party of former Prime Minister.

The rise of these far-right, populist parties sheds light on Italy/s overall discontent towards the pro-Europe Democratic Party that is currently in power. A possibility the party could still save itself is by aligning with the center-right Forza Italia party led by Mr. Berlusconi. Even if the two parties form a coalition, however, the country remains divided and lacks a majority.

What is dominating the political conversation in Italy right now is the wave of anti-immigrant sentiments as well as euroskepticism. Five Star’s vocal and clear positions on these controversial topics made them difficult for political enemies, while the party is continuing to attract young voters all over the country from left and right.

Five Star, being the popular party at the moment in Italy, will be negotiating with current president Sergio Mattarella, regarding how the future of Italian government and politics will look like. Italy has many changes and problems the country will need to address and negotiate with its people and the entire Europe.

Featured Image via Wikimedia