In the end, Giorgia Meloni did not leave former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in charge of the Upper House. She placed her close ally Ignazio La Russa at the head of the Senate to demonstrate her political strength.
Following the right-wing election victory on September 25, Italy’s new parliament opened on Thursday.
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This is the first step towards the formation of the new government, which will be led by the right-wing Giorgia Meloni.
However, the right-wing coalition of Meloni’s Fratelli party and the Lega (Salvini) and Forza (Berlusconi) parties may already be showing some cracks.
While the initial informal agreement between the three right-wing leaders was that Salvini would take the Interior Ministry (the country’s second most important portfolio after the prime minister) and Berlusconi the Senate presidency, Meloni now seems to want to fill these criticisms. positions with its people.
The internal argument is that Fratelli almost tripled the votes of Salvini and Berlusconi and the Roman believes his party’s representatives should fill all the key positions in the new government.
Voting in the first session of the newly constituted Senate elected Meloni’s strongman, Ignazio Benito La Russa, after Fratelli refused to pick Berlusconi for the post.
La Russa was Berlusconi’s defense minister and has been vice president of the Senate since 2018.
For their part, Forza senators decided not to vote, outraged by the distribution of offices and ministries and denounced Meloni’s refusal to govern in a coalition that recognizes the merits of its members.
La Russa was elected with 116 votes in favor, while 65 votes were not cast.
Because the vote was secret, it is not known exactly which parties voted in favor and which abstained.
However, Berlusconi denounced that La Russa was elected with the support of former Socialist Prime Minister Mateo Renzi’s senators, who wanted to prevent Berlusconi’s return to power at all costs.
The right-wing coalition will be tested again this Friday when the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies is elected, a vote that will also determine whether Meloni gets enough support to form a government with the right-wing parties that won the election.
Matteo Salvini, who led the right wing in the last election but lost all his support to Meloni in this round, nominated his associate Lorenzo Fontana as the new speaker of the lower house.
However, there is speculation that Meloni will also try to install a Fratelli member.
Meloni won with 26% of the vote, which gives him the right to lead the negotiations, but Berlusconi wants the same treatment as Salvini, as both are at around 8%.
Suppose a consensus candidate between Salvini and Meloni heads the Chamber of Deputies.
In that case, Berlusconi could withdraw his support for the right-wing coalition in protest at the lack of representation in the legislature in the presidential election, triggering a major political crisis in Italy if a government cannot be formed.
With information from Derecha Diario
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