Matteo Salvini transformed his once-regional Lega party into a national force in government, but the far-right leader has seen his star eclipsed by the more polished Giorgia Meloni.
The league is likely to return to power after Sunday’s election, but with far less support than in 2018, according to polls, making him a junior partner in a right-wing coalition led by Meloni’s post-fascist brothers of Italy.
Meloni pursues a similar far-right, Eurosceptic “Italian First” platform as Salvini, but she gives her politics a more polished, some say more respectable face – despite her ties to Italy’s neo-fascist movement.
Many supporters also see it as a clear break with the past.
Salvini, 49, has been in and out of government since the last general election in 2018, joining the populist Five Star Movement and later Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s coalition of national unity.
Meloni, whose party received just four percent of the vote in 2018, was the only political leader to stay out of Draghi’s team, making her the only real opposition.
“I like her. She’s a straight forward, nice person… Let’s try a change,” Paolo Berardi, a former Salvini supporter in his 50s, said at one of Meloni’s rallies last month.
– Closed Ports –
Born in Milan on March 9, 1973, Salvini joined what was then known as the Lega Nord at just 17, a secessionist party committed to autonomy for Italy’s northern regions and whose members routinely called poorer southern Italians “parasites.”
But after rising through the ranks, he transformed the party into a national force, turning its attention to the EU, the euro and the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive on Italy’s shores annually from North Africa.
When he was interior minister in 2019 – who also served as deputy prime minister – Salvini blocked several rescue ships for charity carrying migrants from landing in Italy as part of his party’s “closed ports” policy.
The move resulted in him being charged with kidnapping and abuse of office in Sicily, in an ongoing trial he has worn as a badge of honour.
Subtlety is not his style – he has often been seen holding a Roman Catholic rosary or Bible on campaign, once even publicly invoking the Virgin Mary to carry it to victory.
He resigned from government in 2019 after winning an impressive 34 percent of the vote in the European Parliament elections, hoping to spark a new national vote he could win.
However, he was outmaneuvered by his coalition allies, who formed a new government without him.
– Russia Relations –
During this election campaign, Salvini has focused on immigration, but also on calling for help for homes and businesses hit by rising energy prices.
At the same time he calls for tax cuts, in particular a flat tax of 15 percent.
Salvini has backed away from previous calls for Italy to leave the EU’s single currency, but continues to harshly criticize Brussels.
Last year he attended a meeting with other far-right leaders, including Hungary’s Viktor Orban and France’s Marine Le Pen, to discuss their plans to “reform” the bloc.
The war in Ukraine has again challenged his ties to Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin he has long admired and even wears t-shirts with Putin’s face on it.
Salvini criticized Western sanctions against Russia as ineffective, putting him at odds with Meloni, who strongly supports Ukraine.
