Giorgia Meloni is rising star on Italy's far-right stage

Italian right-wing leader Matteo Salvini's once-bold demeanor has turned nervous and edgy since his failed bid to become premier this summer, giving an opening on Italy's political stage to his junior ally, the energetic leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party.

Giorgia Meloni's far-right party has seen a surge in support — albeit remaining in the single digits — as Italy's traditionally conservative political landscape shifts even more toward the right, according to pollsters.

The two leaders and their supporters plan to descend Saturday on Rome for a massive right-wing rally, dubbed by commentators the new "March on Rome," as it resurrects memories of the mass demonstration that marked fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's ascent to power in 1922.

FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019 file photo, leader of The League party, Matteo Salvini, speaks at a party's rally in Pontida, northern Italy. Italy’s politically battered Matteo Salvini and ally Giorgia Meloni are preparing for a weekend march on Rome to rally the right-wing after Salvini’s political miscalculation got him ousted from his powerful post as interior minister. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers Of Italy party is growing in popularity as Italy’s political landscape shifts even more toward the right. Salvini calls the rally “a peaceful day of Italian pride” but many believe it will attract far-right extremists. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno, File)

Salvini calls the rally "a peaceful day of Italian pride," rebuffing critics that saw the initiative as a dangerous flirtation with the Fascist era. But many still believe the protest will attract far-right extremists, including neo-fascist groups like the Rome-based CasaPound.

Salvini's right-wing League remains by far the most popular party in Italy despite his political misstep — while trying to become the country's next prime minister he lost his powerful job as Italy's interior minister. But he has suffered a dip in the polls, along with all the other major parties, as Italians view with suspicion the new coalition government created in September by the left-wing Democratic Party and the populist 5-Star Movement.

Only the 42-year-old Meloni has gained — viewed by many as the only politician who has not compromised her principles.

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 file photo, Brothers of Italy party leader Giorgia Meloni talks to the press after meeting Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome. Italy’s politically battered Matteo Salvini and ally Giorgia Meloni are preparing for a weekend march on Rome to rally the right-wing after Salvini’s political miscalculation got him ousted from his powerful post as interior minister. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers Of Italy party is growing in popularity as Italy’s political landscape shifts even more toward the right. Salvini calls the rally “a peaceful day of Italian pride” but many believe it will attract far-right extremists. (AP PhotoAlessandra Tarantino, File )

The League and Brothers of Italy are on a trajectory that Lorenzo Pregliasco, head of pollster YouTrend, says could win them more than 40% support in Italy's next national election.

"Such a scenario would be impressive, as it would hand two right-wing parties solid control of parliament," Pregliasco said.

The Brothers of Italy was originally a fringe far-right party born from the ashes of the post-Fascist Social Movement and its successor, National Alliance. Its support currently hovers at around 8%, with Meloni often topping the list of Italy's most popular politicians, after Premier Giuseppe Conte and Salvini. The party won just 4.4% of the vote in the last national election and has long been just a minor player in a center-right group long dominated by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. file photo, leader of The League party, Matteo Salvini, is cheered by supporters at a party's rally in Pontida, northern Italy. Italy’s politically battered Matteo Salvini and ally Giorgia Meloni are preparing for a weekend march on Rome to rally the right-wing after Salvini’s political miscalculation got him ousted from his powerful post as interior minister. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers Of Italy party is growing in popularity as Italy’s political landscape shifts even more toward the right. Salvini calls the rally “a peaceful day of Italian pride” but many believe it will attract far-right extremists. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno, File)

A Roman born raised in the working-class Garbatella neighborhood, Meloni entered politics when she was only 15 and founded her own party after breaking with Berlusconi in 2012.

Her straightforward political message focuses on an anti-migrant stance even more extreme than that of Salvini, who paralyzed the European Union's migrant policy during his 8-month tenure as Italy's interior minister. She pairs that with a nationalist rhetoric that focuses on a few key words: nation, sovereignty and order. She's also a fierce critic of EU rules but never embraced anti-euro rhetoric.

Outside Italy, Meloni is far less well known than Salvini, who was long seen as the possible leader of nationalist forces emerging across Europe. At home, however, Meloni's political reach, supported by her strong communication skills, has been consolidating. She is the only woman leading a party in Italy's male-dominated politics and the only one who managed not to be cannibalized by Salvini.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 file photo, The League's Matteo Salvini makes his statement at the Senate ahead of a second confidence vote for Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte's coalition government, in Rome. Italy’s politically battered Matteo Salvini and ally Giorgia Meloni are preparing for a weekend march on Rome to rally the right-wing after Salvini’s political miscalculation got him ousted from his powerful post as interior minister. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers Of Italy party is growing in popularity as Italy’s political landscape shifts even more toward the right. Salvini calls the rally “a peaceful day of Italian pride” but many believe it will attract far-right extremists. (AP PhotoGregorio Borgia, File )

In just a few years, she has transformed the Brothers of Italy from a marginal group of fascist nostalgists into the second-biggest rightist party after the League, overtaking Berlusconi's moribund Forza Italia party, which is now stuck at around 5% support.

"Meloni's success is based on her ability to attract both right-wing moderates, who are abandoning Berlusconi's Forza Italia, and more radical-right supporters, who were disappointed by the League's recent moves," said Lorenzo Castellani, political analyst at Rome's LUISS University.

Now, thanks to the 83-year-old Berlusconi's inexorable decline, Meloni can become the new "friendly face" of Italy's far-right, as her reassuring, traditional approach fits in well with nationalist policies.

FILE - In this Thursday, April 12, 2018 file photo, Brothers of Italy party leader Giorgia Meloni, left, and The League party's leader Matteo Salvini meet journalists at the Quirinale presidential palace after talks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in Rome. Italy’s politically battered Matteo Salvini and ally Giorgia Meloni are preparing for a weekend march on Rome to rally the right-wing after Salvini’s political miscalculation got him ousted from his powerful post as interior minister. Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers Of Italy party is growing in popularity as Italy’s political landscape shifts even more toward the right. Salvini calls the rally “a peaceful day of Italian pride” but many believe it will attract far-right extremists. (AP PhotoGregorio Borgia, File)

Analysts note that Meloni's strongholds are in Italy's struggling southern regions and in the peripheries of its cities, which helped her to gain an independent role within the new Salvini-led coalition.

Many disillusioned Italian voters — angered by the broken promises of both traditional parties and anti-establishment forces — have bet on Meloni's reassuring leadership. She never denied her party's fascist past but has openly distanced it from Mussolini's racial laws.

"I voted for her because she's one of the few women in politics and I hoped she could have a crucial role within a winning center-right alliance," said Marco Bonaiuto, 46, from the southern Italian city of Avellino.

After voting for center-left forces in the past, Bonaiuto shifted to the far-right Brothers of Italy in Italy's 2018 election.

"And you know what? I would even consider voting for Meloni again," he said.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.

Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.

“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”

“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.

The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.

Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.

Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.

The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.

Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.

In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.

Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.

Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)