Italy's Meloni pressured by ex‑General Vannacci's new far‑right party

Ipsos polling shows Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's current three‑party coalition (Fratelli d’Italia, Lega and Forza Italia) at 41.7 % of the vote, while a centre‑left opposition could reach 44.5 %. The emergence of Futuro Nazionale, founded by former special‑forces commander Roberto Vannacci, is attracting about 6 % support and more than 100 000 members. Analysts say a partnership with Vannacci’s party could lift the right‑wing bloc to roughly 47.7 %, but such a pact would risk alienating coalition partners Lega and Forza Italia, whose leaders have expressed strong discomfort with Vannacci’s extremist statements.

Vannacci, who was suspended from the army after publishing a book containing anti‑immigrant, anti‑LGBT and anti‑women rhetoric, praises the World‑War‑II Decima Flottiglia MAS unit and advocates “remigration”, limits on foreign residents, employment of 14‑year‑olds and the abolition of legal protections for women. His program, summed up in the slogan “Italy must belong to Italians”, is viewed by experts as a further rightward shift that could destabilise Meloni’s government ahead of the parliamentary election, which must be called by next year (likely April or autumn).