Italian Government for Dummies
Italy is a Parliamentary Democratic Republic. The Parliament is composed of many ranks (Figure 1), two of those are the Senators, and the Deputies Chamber acting as the high chamber and the low chamber. Both chambers are elected by the people, but there are some life senators, and some honorable-eg. Liliana Segre and Carlo Rubbia and the former President of the republic. Overall, there are approximately 600 members, of which 200 are Senators, and 400 are Chamber Deputies- recently dropped 30%.
2022 Elections
On the 25th of September 2022, general elections happened in Italy, where the different parties withstood elections in order to create a government. This year, the well-known Fratelli d’Italia movement- or translated as Brothers of Italy,- won the elections with 26% popular votes (Figure 2), the majority being in northern Italy (Figure 3). The elected lead representative was Giorgia Meloni.
Figure 2- Result of vote for Chamber of Deputies (based on incomplete results).
Source- Courtesy of Kirby
Figure 3- How Italy voted by area (Vote share by coalition % in the proportional constituencies.)
Source- Courtesy of Kirby
So…what does ‘Brothers of Italy’ stand for then?
Well, over the last few weeks, Giorgia Meloni- and the parties she is forming a coalition government with- has confused people watching the news, by demonstrating fervor to communicate her conservative ideas, and now recently showing evidence of second-guessing her choices, and becoming more rational. For example, when Giorgia Meloni was in Andalusia, Spain raucously spoke to the VOX-supporting audience in Spanish (Figure 3), portraying her ideas: “Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology… no to Islamist violence, yes to secure borders, no to mass migration… no to big international finance… no to the bureaucrats of Brussels!” (Corriere della Sera). Now, weeks later, contrasting to the VOX party speech “-no to the bureaucrats of Brussels”, Fratelli D’Italia is now recognizing potential cooperation between Europeans, to respond to current critical issues, such as the lack of energy and gas. However, although she is currently revisiting Italy’s ideal relationship with the EU, it is still recognizable that her ideas are based on fascist roots. Another recent event that confirms these speculations, could be the naval blockade sent from Meloni to Libya, to stop migrant boats from leaving said country (Kirby).
Figure 3- Meloni in Andalusia to support Vox, from the stage harangues the audience in Spanish
Source- (Corriere della Sera)
Article by Allegra, Grade 9
Works Cited
Corriere della Sera, director. Meloni in Andalusia per sostenere Vox, dal palco arringa la folla in spagnolo [Meloni in Andalusia to support Vox, from the stage harangues the audience in Spanish]. 2022. 2022. Youtube, https://youtu.be/jMad7nLO3OM.
Kirby, Paul. “Giorgia Meloni: Italy’s far-right wins election and vows to govern for all.” BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63029909. Accessed 18 October 2022.