IN THE WAKE OF THE ITALIAN VOTE

         HOUSE                                                                     SENATE

         M5S = 5 Stars Movement      CDX = Center-Right       CSX = Center-Left

The Italian vote on the 4th of March determined an earthquake which may have razed the political foundations of the second Republic.

Italy woke up in a foggy rainy day after, and discovered how the South sundered itself from North and Central Italy. The 5 Stars Movement (M5S), 32% of the overall votes, was successful below Rome with peaks reaching 40% , crowning its leader Luigi Di Maio as the new king of the Two Sicilies. The Center-Right alliance however outnumbered their opponents above Rome, winning national elections with 37%. Remarkable within the alliance emerged the success of Lega (17%). Matteo Salvini overrided Berlusconi's Forza Italia (14 %), becoming the undisputed leader of the Center Right forces, to which contributed also Fratelli d'Italia and Noi Con l'Italia.

The expected fall of Renzi's Partito Democratico was striking and painful. The heirs of former Italian Communist Party lost even inside their traditional strongholds Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria, and shrank into a few diehard enclaves.
The Labour Party payed indeed a high price for 7 years of mismanagement and for having repeatedly told blatant lies in order to conceal their own inadequacy in reversing  social, economic and cultural decline of Italy.

Since nobody reached 40% votes necessary to form a government, "the contours of a new regime are still unclear, but an old one is certainly passing", as the Washington Post commented. The worst scenario Juncker feared didn't happen, but more than 50% of people's voice  expressed an overt anti-establishment feeling. Berlusconi thought to play a trump card by inviting EU Parliament President Tajani to be candidate for premiership, but probably he drove more people away rather than allure them, and Tajani ran quickly back to his cozy seat in Brussels.

The Southerners also voted massively M5S because attracted by its promise of guaranteed minimum income, or gently pushed by the traditional practice of vote trading. The topic is largely taboo among Italian MSM, but nobody can deny that Mafia, Camorra, Sacra Corona and Ndrangheta have their influence in Southern Italian society, which remains the poorest of the country. Promising streams of public money during election campaign to the unemployed in a chronically jobless region is a questionable behavior: it appears to be baleful, because it discourages economical development,  financially unsustainable on the long run, and ethically deleterious, since it also increases a bad form of welfarism and empowers the above mentioned illegal corporations.

Luigi Di Maio is a charming and smiling young man, talking a good game to enthusiastic young audiences. He has a totally different approach from Beppe Grillo, since the former comedian is a man of disruption, opposition and coarse language. Grillo accomplished the task he was ment for, and pretty boy Di Maio now steps in a new scene. He is open for dialogue with all groups sitting in Parliament, available to all sort of alliances, even with Berlusconi. Gone is also the former M5S anti-Euro attitude, and nobody is talking anymore against EU and against immigrants. It seems indeed that EU's establishment, in the aftermath of the Italian vote, is gambling on Di Maio, having lost Matteo Renzi's loyal partnership, and fearing Matteo Salvini's sovereign programs. MSM rolled up their tongues on monday morning, being used to lick the past PD regimes. Now they seem ready to unroll them at the feet of Di Maio. Vincenzo Boccia, President of Italian Industrial Federation, and Sergio Marchionne, Chairman of Fiat Chrysler, are already endorsing M5S.

Matteo Salvini took over the regional party Lega Nord in 2013 fallen at 3%, decided to shape a national party out of it, and brought Lega to a never reached 17%.
He tirelessly campaigned travelling up and down through Italy, meeting people, shaking hands, taking selfies, speaking on squares, appearing in talk shows, spreading his message on social media, always communicating in a extraordinary sound, unaffected and plain way.

Salvini says the Euro is a wrong currency which will run out by itself. He considers it  a hidden D-Mark, designed in order to strengthen German economy. As eurosceptic, the leader of Lega states that EU must change attitude towards Italy. "Why should we continue to pay EU and receive in return two fingers in our eyes?" asks Salvini, maintaining to be ready to defend the economic interests of the Italian people against the greed of those few holding real power in EU. "In 2019 the European elections will change many things" states Salvini. "We will get a majority in the EU Parliament able to serve the interest of the people and not the interest of the bankers, multinationals and eurocrats".

"Italians first" was his electoral slogan.

On domestic front Lega wants to reform political administrative system by empowering the regions and so transforming Italy into a federal State. Many other reforms are in the pipeline, in particular the introduction of a 15% flat tax. Lowering taxes could boost Italian economic growth, attract investments and create plenty of jobs.

Defender of Italy's Christian roots, Salvini is criticising the rapid spreading of Islam inside the country, linked to the refugee-welcome policy of Leftist governments and the Church of Jorge Bergoglio. When asked about article 19 of Italian Constitution, which allows freedom of religion, Salvini answers that he hasn't problems with Buddhism, Hinduism or Hebraism. Instead he considers Islam an ideology and a system of laws rather than a religion, full of tenets incompatible with Italian Constitution and Western values.

The Left tries to stop progression of Lega and its ideas by all means, even by demonizing Salvini. So he is called fool, racist, xenophobe, populist, fascist and hate speaker. Exactly the same epithets thrown at Donald Trump, who dared to state "America first" during election campaign and to say that "We don't have a nation without a border".
Lega in fact is growing because it opposes relativism, globalism and no-borderism of the Left. It appears to defend traditional values like family, religion, respect, occupation, order, security, pride of national history, loyalty and common sense. Some call it populism. Fact is that more and more Italians appreciate.

"We keep calm and carry on", said a nervous Margaritis Schinas, spokesman of Jean-Claude Juncker. "We confirm our trust in President Mattarella's capability to facilitate the formation of a new government, in the interest of Italy and Europe".

What next? The ball is now in Mattarella's court.