Giorgia Meloni may become Italy's 1st far-right leader since World War II

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/24/ [login to see] /giorgia-meloni-italy-election
If polling is correct, Italians will elect their country's most right-wing government since the end of World War II on Sunday. That's no small matter in a country that has had 69 governments since 1946.

Leading the coalition that looks likely to secure a majority of seats in Italy's parliament is Giorgia Meloni, leader of Fratelli d'Italia, the Brothers of Italy party.

If her coalition does win, she will also make history by becoming Italy's first female prime minister.

Meloni, 45, grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Rome that's better known for cultivating leftist activists than producing fiery hard-right politicians. Her party has roots in the neo-fascist movement that emerged out of the ruins of World War II.

Symbols point to the party's connection to that past too. The party flag includes a tricolor flame that was a symbol of fascism in the early 20th century. Meloni has refused to remove the flame from the party's logo.

And many party members have shown an affinity for fascism and fascist leaders of the past. Just this week, the party suspended a member running for parliament after an Italian newspaper revealed he had posted comments supporting Adolf Hitler in the past.