Italy: Meloni says far-right ‘demonisation’ losing impact

Rome: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Monday that attempts to “demonise” far-right voters were losing impact, following the strong showing of France’s National Rally in first-round legislative elections.

“The constant attempt to demonise and corner people who don’t vote for the left… is a trick that fewer and fewer people fall for,” Meloni told the Adnkronos news agency, in her first comments following the French first-round results Sunday.

Meloni — the most right-wing Italian leader since World War II — congratulated the far-right party of Marine Le Pen, which captured 33.15 percent of the first round of the high-stakes election in a resounding victory.

“On a political level, I congratulate the National Rally and its allies for their clear success in the first round,” Meloni said, noting that Le Pen’s party had also managed to find allies within the conservative Republicans party.

“I notice something that in different forms is also happening in Italy: the constant attempt to demonize and corner the people who don’t vote for the left,” she said.

“It’s a trick that serves to escape from the debate on the merits of the different political proposals. But it’s a trick that fewer and fewer people fall for.”