Irish Examiner view: Italian lurch to the right could challenge EU stability

Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia look set to form a new far-right governing coalition in Italy

A poster for Giorgia Meloni in Rome this weekend. Ms Meloni looks set to become Italy's first female prime minister at the head of a far-right coalition. Picture: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

By tonight we should start to discern the shape of voting in the Italian elections as results start to come in. 

We will learn whether the EU’s third most populous country has elected a far-right leader who would head its most radical government since Mussolini’s fascist regime from the 1920s to the ’40s

Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is forecast to secure a comfortable victory in both houses of parliament while taking between 44% and 47% of the vote. 

Coalition wrangling, including with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia grouping, means she could become Italy’s first female prime minister in a right-wing lurch that will pose a challenge to EU stability.