On the walls of Rome, in the quiet streets of an almost summer Sunday, these electoral posters have something sharp which makes them stand out from the campaign material having been poured out on the city in the run-up to the European elections on Saturday 8 and Sunday June 9. Struck with the first name “Giorgia”, they tell the story of a European election transformed by the president of the council, Giorgia Meloni, into a referendum on her person and her policies.
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The head of the executive ran at the top of the list in the five Italian constituencies and asked voters to write only her first name on the ballot papers. She dominated the pre-electoral debates and is counting on the vote to open a new phase of her mandate, which began in October 2022, by reaffirming her dominance over her right-wing and far-right coalition and obtaining an ever more central role in the game. European politics. It is therefore around her that this election revolves.
“In this desire to base everything on her, to use only the first name, we could see a slightly childish ego game”, judge Maria Elena, 52, who did not wish to give her full name due to her position in a ministry, “but it could hide something much more serious.” The voter has just voted for the small party Alliance of Greens and the Left in a polling station set up within the Cesare-Battisti school in the Garbatella district. The typical facade of buildings from the fascist era still supports four imposing eagle statues, the emblem of the Mussolini regime.
Specter of an authoritarian drift
Giorgia Meloni grew up in this neighborhood in the south of Rome, with popular and left-wing roots. In her story of herself, the president of the council retraces in her streets the beginnings of her personal legend, an epic story which recounts the rise of a young activist from the outskirts of the capital to the palaces of the power.
For Maria Elena, however, the danger could come after the vote. “By personalizing the vote in this way, Meloni prepares minds for the change of the Constitution…”, she fears, referring to the major project of the head of the executive: an institutional reform strengthening the position of the presidency of the council.
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According to the text, the position would be the subject of an election by universal suffrage, leaving, according to its opponents, the specter of an authoritarian drift, a risk mentioned by left-wing voters. For now, however, the polling stations do not seem to be attracting crowds. “The weather is nice, people went to the beach instead of going to vote,” laughs another voter, who has just left school leaning on her cane. At midday, participation was given at 25.1%, the polling stations having opened on Saturday June 8 at 3 p.m. They must close on Sunday at 11 p.m.
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