2 close Berlusconi allies join centrist party ahead of Italy polls

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) – Two of Silvio Berlusconi’s closest and long-time allies on Friday announced they are joining small centrist party Action, ahead of snap polls on Sept. 25, after Berlusconi’s Forza Italia played a central role in the fall of the government led by Mario Draghi.

Maria Stella Gelmini, minister of regional affairs, and Mara Carfagna, minister for the South, said their choice to leave Forza Italia was due after Berlusconi contradicted all his moderate, liberal and pro-European values by sinking “the best government Italy could have,” the one headed by Draghi.

Draghi resigned earlier this month after his national unity coalition collapsed, following a vote of confidence deserted by Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, Matteo Salvini’s League and the populist 5-Star Movement.

The move sparked a string of defections from Forza Italia, stripping Berlusconi of some of his strongest allies, just as he fights for regaining power within the center-right alliance, which is seen as favorite in the run for elections under the lead of Giorgia Meloni and her far-right Brothers of Italy party.

According to the latest opinion polls, Brothers of Italy ranks first among Italian parties with around 23-25% of the votes, making Meloni the most likely candidate to become the next prime minister.

In the summer game of alliances ahead of September elections, small centrist parties such as Action – headed by former Industry Minister Carlo Calenda – could end up playing a key role.

If they seal a possible alliance with Italy’s second largest political force in the polls – the center-left Democratic Party – their coalition could have many more chances to rival the center-right for the control of parliament.

In that case, Gelmini and Carfagna would find themselves exactly on the opposite front of their former mentor and leader Berlusconi.