“THANK YOU!” Giorgia Meloni wrote on X, posting a photo of herself with two fingers raised in the victory sign. Italian voters had just handed her Brothers of Italy the largest share of the national vote in the European Parliament election.
The final count put the party at 28.8%, which translated into 24 of Italy’s 76 seats. In 2019 it had managed 6.4%. Early projections reported by Reuters had it slightly lower, at 28.3%, but still more than four times its showing in the last EU ballot and ahead of the 26% it took in the 2022 national election that brought Meloni to power.
A strong night for the big two
The opposition centre-left Democratic Party finished second with 24.1% and 20 seats, up from 22.7% five years earlier. For its leader, Elly Schlein, who took over the party in 2023 and has struggled to impose her will on its old guard, the result was a welcome one. She had been anxious to beat the 19% the party won in 2022.
Everyone else lost ground, according to Xinhua. The League slid from 34.3% to 9.0%. The Five-Star Movement fell from 17.1% to 10.0%, and Reuters noted that its early figure was its worst countrywide showing since the movement was founded in 2009. Forza Italia, the party founded by the late Silvio Berlusconi, ran fourth on about 10% in the early count and overtook the League, which added to the pressure on its leader, Matteo Salvini. Umberto Bossi, the League’s founder, reportedly voted for Forza Italia this time, his allies told Italian media.
On the left, the Greens and Left Alliance won around 6.8%. That sent its candidate, Ilaria Salis, to Brussels as an MEP. Salis is an Italian activist who spent more than a year detained in Hungary over an alleged assault on far-right militants.
Fewer people showed up
Turnout was the sour note. Participation came in at 49.7%, the first time it dropped under 50% in a European Parliament vote in Italy, a country that has traditionally voted in large numbers.
Meloni’s governing coalition, which runs from the centre-right to the far right, saw its combined support creep above 46% in the early projections, up from just under 43% in 2022. “I think this vote is certainly going to strengthen the government,” said Licia Ronzulli, a Forza Italia senator.
The result also carries weight beyond Italy. Reuters pointed out that Meloni has softened her image abroad and dropped her earlier anti-EU rhetoric, presenting herself as a bridge between the mainstream centre-right and her own national conservative camp. Her lawmakers could prove decisive if she decides to back Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission president, and that would give Rome leverage over the next EU executive. Her showing stood in sharp contrast to the routs suffered by the parties of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Italy now holds the third-largest contingent, 76 seats, in the 720-seat Parliament, behind Germany and France.
Sources
- Fratelli d'Italia Triumphs in European Elections, Strengthening Meloni's Grip (Reuters, via Devdiscourse)
- Italy's largest parties gain ground in European Parliament vote (Xinhua)
Sources
- 2024 European Parliament election in Italy – Wikipedia
- National results Italy – 2024 European election results
