Center-left wins in Rome, elsewhere in blow to Italy's right
Italy Mayoral Elections Center-left mayoral candidate Roberto Gualtieri flashes a v-sign at his party's headquarters in Rome, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (Gregorio Borgia)ROME — (AP) — Italy’s center-left forces won big in Rome, Turin and several other mayoral runoffs on Monday, dealing embarrassing defeats to the anti-migrant and far-right parties that are hoping to capture Italy's premiership in the next national election. “When the mayor of Rome is elected by 24% of those eligible to vote ... there is a crisis of democracy,” Meloni said. But she contended that it was the populist 5-Stars who had suffered the real “debacle," which recalibrated Italy's national politics to a question of center-right vs. center-left. Salvini's northern-based right-wing party suffered some stinging setbacks in the mayoral races, including a resounding first-round defeat for his candidate for Milan, Italy's financial capital, which reelected its center-left mayor.
wftv.comNeo-fascists exploit 'no-vax' rage, posing dilemma for Italy
APTOPIX Italy Green Pass Protest Demonstrators and police clash during a protest, in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021. Starting Friday, anyone entering workplaces in Italy must have received at least one vaccine dose, or recovered from COVID-19 recently or tested negative with two days, using the country's Green Pass to prove their status. Unions have backed the Green Pass as a way to make Italy's workplaces safer for employees. On Monday, on Rome prosecutors' orders, Italy's telecommunications police force took down Forza Nuova’s website for alleged criminal instigation. Among the dozen people arrested in Saturday's violence are a co-founder of Forza Nuova (New Force) and its Rome leader.
wftv.comItaly's center-left claim mayoral wins; populists slump
Italy Mayoral Elections Scrutineers count ballots after the closing of a polling station, in Rome, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The 5-Stars, currently Parliament's largest party, also failed to clinch a mayoral runoff slot in Turin, where one of their own had been mayor since 2016, with nearly 40% of the ballots counted. Salvini has ambitions to win the premiership of a center-right government he hopes will be formed after Italy's parliamentary election. But with wins in Milan, Naples and Bologna and spots in mayoral runoffs in Rome and Turin, “we showed that the center-right is beatable,” Letta told supporters. Key to winning the Rome mayoral runoff will be wooing support from Raggi's disappointed backers.
wftv.comEurope urges unity on Taliban but is quiet on failed mission
European leaders say they will press for a unified international approach to dealing with a Taliban government in Afghanistan, as they looked on with dismay at the rapid collapse of two decades of a U.S.-led Western campaign in the country.
Giorgia Meloni: The far-Right 'fatty' who could become Italy's first female prime minister
Abandoned by her father and bullied by other children for being chubby, life was not too rosy for Giorgia Meloni when she was growing up in a scruffy working-class district of Rome. Thirty years on, she is having the last laugh. The leader of the hard-Right Brothers of Italy party could, conceivably, become Italy’s first ever woman prime minister, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Brothers of Italy, which is the modern-day heir to Italy’s fascist movement, was then a fringe
news.yahoo.comItaly's Draghi wins support of 2 rival parties for new govt
Leader of the Five-Stars Movement Vito Crimi, 2nd from right, addresses the media at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Draghi, 73, the former president of the European Central Bank completed a first round of talks with political parties this week. Another round is expected early next week on potential Cabinet ministers and a synthesis from Draghi of his vision for the new government. AdItaly's president tapped Draghi this week to form a government after the resignation of ex-Premier Giuseppe Conte, who lost support of a small but key coalition party. Salvini’s move to support Draghi puts him at odds with the far-right Brothers of Italy party and its leader, Giorgia Meloni.
Italy's Conte: Draghi's new government should be political
Outgoing Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte waves as he leaves after meeting journalists outside Chigi palace Premier's office in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Draghi must rely on political support to pass measures aimed at helping Italy emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and revive its economy, already stagnant before being pummeled by lockdown measures. “I hope for a political government that is solid and has sufficient cohesion to be able to make political choices, because the urgencies of the country need political choices, they can’t be entrusted to technocrats,” Conte said. Conte also pitched to two other parties from his unraveled coalition, the center-left Democrats and the leftist Free and Equal Party. His call for a political alliance appeared to indicate Conte intended to stay in politics, even while out of office.
Italian premier resigns, setting off scramble for new allies
Italian Premier Conte was meeting Tuesday, Jan. 26. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)ROME – Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte resigned Tuesday after a key coalition ally pulled his party’s support over Conte’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, setting the stage for consultations this week to determine if he can form a third government. Conte’s coalition government was thrown into turmoil earlier this month when a junior party headed by ex-Premier Matteo Renzi yanked its support. But Conte would need Renzi's support to form a new governing coalition or the backing of independents and the center-right Forza Italia party. Conte's first government starting in 2018 was a 5-Star alliance with the right-wing League party led by Matteo Salvini that lasted 15 months.