ROME, Sep 26(ABC): Giorgia Meloni looks set to become Italy’s first woman prime minister at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two after leading a conservative alliance to triumph at Sunday’s election.
Provisional results showed the rightist bloc should have a strong majority in both houses of parliament, potentially giving Italy a rare chance of political stability after years of upheaval and fragile coalitions.
However, Meloni and her allies face a daunting list of challenges, including soaring energy prices, the war in Ukraine. and a renewed slowdown in the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
“We must remember that we are not at the endpoint, we are at the starting point. It is from tomorrow that we must prove our worth,” the 45-year-old Meloni told cheering supporters of her nationalist Brothers of Italy party early Monday morning.
Meloni plays down her party’s post-fascist roots and portrays it as a mainstream group like Britain’s Conservatives. She has pledged to back Western policy on Ukraine and not take risks with Italy’s fragile finances.