This happened after four parliamentarians changed alliances before next year’s general election.
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“Although some people wrote us off as a one-day phenomenon, ‘National Future’ continues to grow,” the party announced on social media.
“National Future” (FN) was founded in February by retired general Roberto Vannacci, who is challenging Italy’s hard-right government on its own territory and complicating Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hopes of re-election.
R. Vannacci emphasizes Italy’s Roman and Christian roots, while speaking out against migrants, feminists, and LGBTIQ individuals.
This week’s opinion polls show that the new “National Future” is supported by about 4.5 percent of voters, with most of this support taken from the anti-immigrant “League” party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
G. Meloni’s party remains the most popular, supported by about 28 percent of respondents, but FN’s support is steadily growing, and it aims to close the gap with the “League,” which is supported by about 6 percent.
FN could play an important role in the 2027 elections, splitting the right-wing vote.
Giovanni Orsina, a political scientist at Rome’s Luiss University, told AFP news agency that he does not expect FN to win more than three or four percent in the elections, but even that “could determine the victory or defeat of the right-wing coalition.”
“Survival Strategies”
Two new FN parliamentarians came from the “League,” and the other two from the center-right party “Forza Italia.”
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The change of alliances before the vote was not unexpected, as parliamentarians take risks guessing which party will give them the “best chance” of re-election, said G. Orsina.
“Ultimately, these are personal political survival strategies; I wouldn’t attach too much political significance to them,” he stated.
A professional soldier with experience in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, R. Vannacci gained fame in 2023 after publishing the controversial book “World Upside Down.”
In it, he claimed that homosexuality is not “normal,” complained about the “dictatorship of minorities,” and said of black Italian volleyball star Paola Egonu that her features “do not reflect Italianness.”
He was suspended from his military duties and later allowed to retire, and this scandal made him a far-right celebrity.
M. Salvini, whose “League” has been losing ground to G. Meloni’s party in recent years, invited him to his party, and in 2024, R. Vannacci was elected to the European Parliament.
“Salvini created Vannacci; it was Salvini’s mistake,” said G. Orsina.
R. Vannacci targets voters disillusioned with M. Salvini, as well as G. Meloni, who has radical far-right roots but adopts a more pragmatic approach in office.
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