Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni is heading to become Italy’s first female prime minister after claiming victory in the country’s election. She is expected to form Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

Speaking after the vote, Meloni said her Brothers of Italy party would “govern for everyone” and would not betray people’s trust.

“Italians have sent a clear message in favour of a right-wing government led by Brothers of Italy,” she told reporters in Rome.

She is predicted to win up to 26% of the vote, based on provisional results, ahead of her closest rival Enrico Letta from the centre-left.

Meloni’s right-wing alliance – which also includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia – is likely to have control of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

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Who is Giorgia Meloni?

Meloni has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies in Italy since 2006. She currently heads the Brothers of Italy (FdI) political party and has been the president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party since 2020.

Born in Rome, Meloni joined the Youth Front, the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), in 1992. She later became the national leader of the Student Action, the student movement of National Alliance (AN).

She was a councilor of the Province of Rome from 1998 to 2002.

In 2008, she was appointed Minister of Youth in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. She was at the role until 2011. In 2012, she co-founded FdI and became its president in 2014.

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She took part in the 2014 European Parliament election, and in the 2016 Rome municipal election as a mayoral candidate. However, she did not have a win.

In 2016, Meloni participated in the Family Day, an anti-LGBT rights demonstration, declaring herself against LGBT adoption.

Meloni has a daughter, Ginevra, with her partner Andrea Giambruno. Her partner is a journalist working for Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset TV channel.