Berlusconi returns to parliament as the rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI), which won Sunday’s general election, saw their votes rise almost five-fold over the last election in 2018. This according to interior ministry figures released Tuesday.
Votes for FdI rose from 1,429,550 to 7,300,628, the Viminale said. This was a rise of almost 5.9 million voters; surging from 4% four years ago to 26% this time out.
The other two members of the winning coalition, the rightwing League and the centre-right Forza Italia, however saw their share of the vote drop. The League dropped 3.2 million and FI were down 2.3 million.
On the left, the Democratic Party (PD) lost around 800,000 voters while the populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) lost over six million.
In total, the PD garnered a disappointing 19%, a little more than it did in 2018. While the M5S saw its share of the vote fall from a third to 15% after a string of defections, it performed far better than pre-election polls indicated.
Berlusconi returns to parliament
Ex-premier and Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi leader is returning to the Italian parliament after nine years. His partner, Marta Fascina, will join him among the new intake of lawmakers.
Berlusconi won the first-past-the-post contest in Monza with over 50% of the vote. He now returns to the Senate after being ejected from Upper House in 2013 following a tax-fraud conviction.
The ban on public office stemming from the conviction elapsed in 2019. That allowed Berlusconi to run for the European Parliament and get elected. His partner Fascina was elected to the Lower House in Marsala.
No lurch towards populism for this coalition
Silvio Berlusconi has said there is no chance of the incoming right-coaltion government lurching towards populism.
“If I thought there were a risk of a populist turn, the government would not even take off,” Berlusconi. “Actually, (if there were) we would not even be allied with the other two parties in our coalition,” he added, referring to FdI and Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League.
