No threat of any kind can stop democracy—the peoples of Europe are raising their heads.
Meloni's FdI-led coalition won 43% of votes, defeating center-left parties at 26%, positioning her as Italy's first female prime minister. European far-right leaders from Poland, Hungary, France, and Spain praised the result as democratic resistance against EU overreach and arrogance.
- Meloni's right-wing coalition won 43% of votes; center-left got 26%
- Over 50 million Italians voted in Sunday's legislative elections
- Meloni became Italy's first female prime minister
- Far-right leaders from Poland, Hungary, France, and Spain celebrated the result
Italy's right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni secured 43% in Sunday's elections, prompting celebrations from European far-right leaders and concerns from left-wing politicians across Europe and Portugal.
On Sunday, September 25th, Italian voters handed power decisively to the right. The coalition of Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, Matteo Salvini's League, and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia captured 43 percent of the vote in legislative elections, leaving the center-left Democratic Party of Enrico Letta with roughly 26 percent. The result was swift and clear: Meloni would become Italy's first female prime minister, and the country's political direction had shifted sharply.
The victory sent ripples across Europe's political landscape, and the reactions came almost immediately. From Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki offered congratulations. In Budapest, Balázs Orbán, political director to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, posted his own message of solidarity, framing the Italian result as a moment when "friends who share a common vision" could stand together in difficult times. Spain's Santiago Abascal, leader of the Vox party, declared that Meloni had "shown the way" for a proud Europe of sovereign nations. Marine Le Pen, the French far-right figure, went further, suggesting that Italians had resisted threats from an "anti-democratic and arrogant" European Union by electing a patriotic government.
Jordan Bardella, interim president of France's National Rally and a member of the European Parliament, struck a similar chord. He said the Italian people had delivered a lesson in humility to Brussels, which through Ursula von der Leyen had tried to dictate how they should vote. "No threat of any kind can stop democracy," Bardella wrote. "The peoples of Europe are raising their heads and taking their destiny into their own hands." The message was unmistakable: this was framed not as a lurch toward extremism but as a democratic reassertion against distant, unaccountable power.
Not everyone saw it that way. In France, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne signaled that Paris would be watching closely, particularly on human rights and abortion rights in Italy. Back in Italy itself, Salvini celebrated what he called a "clear advantage" in both the Chamber and Senate, while Meloni promised to govern "for all Italians" and ensure they could "be proud of being Italian."
In Portugal, the reactions split along predictable lines. André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party, saw the Italian result as a harbinger. He declared that "winds of change" would reach Portugal and that Meloni and Salvini had opened the door to a genuine reconfiguration of European politics. Conservative commentator Paulo Portas noted that whoever won in Italy would bring substantial differences to the country's governance, and that Italians might finally elect a directly chosen prime minister for the first time in eleven years.
But the Portuguese left pushed back hard. Socialist deputy Isabel Moreira warned against what she called "dishonest symmetry" between far-right movements and left-wing parties. Inês de Sousa Real, leader of the PAN party, called the Italian result "another sad day in the history of European democracy" and cautioned against normalizing far-right political forces. She insisted that answers to Europe's problems would not come from populism.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking from California where he was meeting with Portuguese emigrants, offered a more measured response. He said he could not judge the result as head of state, but emphasized that Italy's stability mattered enormously given its weight as one of Europe's largest economies at a sensitive moment. The election itself had drawn more than 50 million Italian voters to the polls, and because of fragmentation among parties, no single group could govern alone—which is why the right-wing coalition had formed in the first place. Meloni's ascent to power represented not just an Italian moment but a test of how Europe's political center would respond to the rightward shift.
Citações Notáveis
The Italian people delivered a lesson in humility to Brussels, which tried to dictate how they should vote.— Jordan Bardella, interim president of France's National Rally
The Italian election result is another sad day in the history of European democracy and should raise awareness of the danger of normalizing far-right political forces.— Inês de Sousa Real, leader of Portugal's PAN party
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did this Italian election matter so much to politicians across Europe?
Because it signaled something larger than Italy itself—that voters in a major European economy were rejecting the center-left consensus that had dominated for years. For the far-right across Europe, it was proof that their moment was coming. For the left, it was a warning.
The far-right leaders seemed to frame this as a victory against the EU itself, not just a domestic election.
Exactly. They portrayed it as Italians standing up to Brussels, to Ursula von der Leyen, to what they called an arrogant and undemocratic institution trying to impose its will. That framing—democracy versus distant bureaucrats—is powerful, whether or not it's accurate.
But Meloni promised to govern for all Italians, not just her base. Is that credible?
That's the question everyone's asking. First female prime minister, leading a coalition that includes a former prime minister banned from office. The words are reassuring, but the composition of the government will tell the real story.
What worried the Portuguese left most?
The normalization of it. They saw Meloni's victory being celebrated by mainstream conservatives, and they feared that would make far-right politics seem acceptable, inevitable even. Once you stop treating it as an aberration and start treating it as just another political option, the ground has shifted.
Did anyone in Portugal see this as a positive?
The right did. Ventura saw it as momentum for his own party, proof that the winds were changing. But he was in a minority. Most of the establishment, even the center-right, seemed cautious or concerned.
What did President Marcelo's careful response tell us?
That even heads of state have to walk a line. He couldn't condemn a democratic result, but he also couldn't celebrate it. So he fell back on what was safe: Italy matters, stability matters, we're watching. It was the response of someone trying not to take sides while the ground moves beneath him.