ROME —An “earthquake””, “nightmare of Europe”, “the victory of anti-system populism.”These are the words used by various newspapers to define the results of Sunday’s general elections in Italy in which the 5-Star movement and Northern League triumphed.
The populist anti-establishment 5-Star movement and the far-right Northern League could have enough support for a majority although some analysts believe such a nightmare scenario coalition is unlikely, writes European affairs website Euractiv.com.
Italian voters delivered a hung parliament, flocking to anti-establishment and far-right parties in record numbers and casting the eurozone’s third-largest economy into political gridlock.
None of Italy’s three main blocs or groups are likely to be able to rule alone and there is little prospect of a return to mainstream, moderate government.
A rightist alliance including former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia emerged with the biggest bloc of votes, ahead of the 5-Star Movement, which saw its support soar to became Italy’s largest single party. Berlusconi has recently announced that current President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani as hs choice for Prime Minister. Tajani, who founded Forza Italia with Berlusconi, is known as a good friend of Israel and of the Jewish community.
The ruling centre-left coalition came third, hurt by voter anger over growing poverty, high unemployment and mass immigration.
According to a vote projection released by Italian TV, the 5-Star Movement could expect to get 216-236 seats in the 630-seat lower house.
A centre-right coalition was tipped to get 248-268 seats, including 122-132 seats for the far-right League and 94-104 seats for Forza Italia led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In third place behind 5-Star and the centre-right bloc was a centre-left coalition dominated by the ruling Democratic Party (PD), which would to take 107-127 seats.
Populist parties have been on the rise across Europe since the 2008 financial crisis. Italy’s mainstream parties have found it especially hard to contain voter anger, with the economy still 6 percent smaller than a decade ago and unemployment stuck at about 11 percent.
Italian Jews have historically voted on both sides of the political spectrum.
But in recent years, most Italian Jews have supported right wing parties. In a 2012 study, 39 per cent said they felt most comfortable with the right or centre right. A quarter said “no one”; just 15 pe cent supported the left.
Italy has undergone substantial political upheaval with three left-leaning governments since 2013. One was led by Matteo Renzi, who built strong ties with Italy’s Jewish communities by making the fight against antisemitism a priority.
The biggest game-changer has been the advent of the 5-star Movement , but any Jewish supporters are hard to track down, perhaps because the party’s politicians appeared to lack any empathy on issues like Holocaust remembrance.
The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, a member of the movement, for example, did not attend the funeral in 2016 of Settimio Piattelli, one of the city’s last Shoah survivors, or even send a representative. It took her two days to tweet condolences to the family and the Jewish community — and when she did, she used a photograph of someone else.
The movement’s candidate for Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio has announced that his choice for Economic Development minister would be Lorenzo Fioramonti, a staunch supporter of the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott,Divestment, Sanctions).
But the possibility of a government led by Mr Di Maio is sufficient to worry many in the Jewish community.
Carlotta Jarach, the president of the Jewish Italian Youth organization, known as UGEI, said the Jewish community in general is worried about certain parties and candidates. She mentioned the mayor of a small town near Milan, from the Northern League party. On January 27, this mayor posted on Facebook: “Since today is the [Holocaust] Memorial Day, remember to go fuck yourselves.”
“The Five Star Movement is the party I’m most worried about,” said Jarach. “Some of their leaders have expressed in the past support for the BDS movement; I believe this is not driven by political criticism towards Israel—rather, it’s badly disguised anti-semitism. It’s a populist party, their rhetoric is filled with conspiracy theories.”
There have been episodes of anti-Semitism in recent months across Italy.
Some 40,000 Jews live in the country.
Yossi Lempkowicz is Editor-in-Chief of the European Jewish Press.