Giorgia Meloni's Italian government can breathe easy. The results of the elections in Lombardy and Lazio – two key regions for being the political capital, Rome, and the economic engine, Milan, of the country – have confirmed the political tendency that was verified in the September general elections. The candidates proposed by the right-wing coalition, made up of the Brothers of Italy, the League and Forza Italia, have achieved a massive victory and will be able to govern calmly, as the polls predicted. Meloni, very satisfied, has quickly celebrated that this "reinforces the action of the Government".
In Lombardy, the outgoing president, Attilio Fontana, has obtained around 55% of the votes, according to projections, thus confirming the conservative alliance as the hegemonic force in a territory that it has governed without interruption since 1994. There, however, the League cannot be totally satisfied in its historical fiefdom. Although Fontana is a historical member of the former Northern League, as a Brothers of Italy party it has once again surpassed Matteo Salvini's formation, just as it did in the September elections.
This could cause tensions within the coalition, at a time when Meloni's push for differentiated autonomy in Italy was interpreted as a gesture to the League before this election date. The latest outburst by Silvio Berlusconi has also caused discomfort, who when voting told the press that he would not have met with Volodimir Zelenski, as Meloni did, because he blames him for the war. "It was enough for him to stop attacking the two republics of Donbass and this would never have happened, so I consider that this man's behavior is very, very negative."
In Lazio, the right-wing candidate, Francesco Rocca, former president of the Italian Red Cross, also won with around 48.5% of the vote, wresting the capital region from the Democratic Party (PD) that had governed until now. The results are a hard blow for the progressives, who have not been able to agree on a unitary candidate with the 5-Star Movement, at a time when the PD is immersed in a process of re-founding after the electoral crash in September and at the end of of the month they must choose their next leader in primaries.
"Today's defeat follows those of the September general elections, in which a reduced PD and a divided progressive field give another victory to the right," lamented the favorite to replace Enrico Letta as general secretary, Stefano Bonaccini. The regional ones, however, have not managed to attract the attention of the voters and have voted less than half of the calls to the polls, with a participation of 43.8% in Lazio and 41.6% in Lombardy.
