National Conservative Giorgia Meloni Most Popular Party Leader in Italian Poll

Head of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, Giorgia Meloni waves from the stage during a un
TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

A poll has revealed that national conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni has become the most popular party leader in the country.

Meloni, who chose to remain in opposition to the new government led by former European Central Bank (ECB) head Mario Draghi, won 35 per cent of the preferences of those polled by the research group Istituto Ixè. League (Lega) leader Matteo Salvini came in second, on 30 per cent.

Former prime  minister Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of Forza Italia, also saw a large amount of support at 27 per cent.

Members of the leftist parties fared more poorly, with former Democratic Party (PD) leader Nichola Zingaretti scoring 26 per cent and former prime minister Matteo Renzi scoring just 10 per cent, Il Giornale reports.

In terms of the political parties, Salvini’s League remains the most popular party in Italy, with 23.9 per cent of the vote, while the Democrats have slipped to below 20 per cent.

The poll revealed advances for both Forza Italia and for the FdI, which now sits at 15.5 per cent support, indicating a huge growth in popularity for Meloni’s party. The FdI had won just 4.35 per cent in the 2018 general election and 6.46 per cent in the 2019 European Parliament elections.

Another poll released this week by Demopolis revealed even more support for the FdI, putting them in second place behind the League with 18 per cent of the vote.

Meloni, who is known as a firebrand leader, spoke out against Big Tech censorship in January after her party colleague Senator Federico Mollicone slammed Facebook for suspending the page of an Italian satirist.

“The EU confirms its weakness, the United States risks a civil war, and in amongst all this, the large multinationals of the web are questioning the right of expression of citizens and their representatives,” Meloni said.

Unlike Matteo Salvini, who currently supports Mario Draghi’s technical government, Meloni has been critical of the new prime minister, claiming this week that Draghi had defended the migrant amnesty policy of the previous leftist government.

“The new government defends this sensational failure, which has served absolutely no purpose and has not solved the problem of finding labour in agriculture. Brothers of Italy denounced him from the beginning and will continue to ask for this useless and ideological measure to be cancelled,” Meloni said on social media.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com

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