Italy's right wing, led by Meloni, wins election, exit polls say

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polls-open-italy-right-wing-alliance-seen-winning-2022-09-25/

by rntn • 4 years ago

45 66 4 years ago

reuters.com

wrp2• 4 years ago

Want I want to know is, are we going to start seeing hobbits and elves in government office?

tartoran2• 4 years ago

No, instead you’ll see lots of instability worldwide.

asguy• 4 years ago

Different than the instability that's causing these elections?

wrp2• 4 years ago

I was thinking of: Hobbits and the Hard Right: How Fantasy Inspires Italy’s Potential New Leader (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32933425)

wlecometo2• 4 years ago

well there was already someone named draghi , plural for dragon

badrabbit10• 4 years ago

When people vote for leaders that sell hope, good times are ahead but when they vote based on fear bad times are almost certain down the road. Regardless of politics that is.

midoridensha4• 4 years ago

Americans voted for Obama because of hope; did good times come about? I don't think so.

Then Americans voted for Trump because of fear; did bad times come about? Definitely.

You might be onto something with the fear part, but I don't think the hope part really works. People buying into hope can easily just be misguided hope and not based on reality. People buying into fear means things really have gone bad.

thelock85• 4 years ago

I don’t think the hope part really works.

What other emotion than hope could have as much mass appeal as fear?

mrhands556• 4 years ago

Before covid the trump presidency had good times to those not paying attention to news articles specifically about trump or late night talk shows.

cromwellian5• 4 years ago

Obama inherited an economy in free fall. By the time he left, the deficit had been cut in half (thanks to sequester), we had more quarters of 3%, 4%, even 5% GDP growth not since the 90s. Unemployment fell from 10% to 4.7%. Home prices and the stock market appreciated considerably.

Trump largely inherited a good economy from Obama, passed a reckless tax cut, and then failed to beat Obama’s final 3 years in terms of gdp growth or job growth. Those tax cuts blew a hole in the deficit before COVID and triggered a plethora of stock buyback activity depleting corporate cash reserves just in time for the pandemic leaving them with nothing to fall back on, and needing quicker and bigger bailouts that might have been necessary if they had bigger nest eggs. (Airlines especially)

Obama had international inspectors in Iran’s nuke plants, Trump pulled the US out and now the situation is far worse with respect to th nuke profliferation issue.

https://www.factcheck.org/2017/09/obamas-final-numbers/

krapp• 4 years ago

Hope and fear are opposite sides of the same coin. Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" was explicitly hopeful, but the hope of populism always rests on a fear of (and disgust for) modernity and its implied future. Obama's message of hope was also predicated on the ideal of moving American culture away from fear, in that case fear of the persistence of America's past. Fear of progress vs. fear of regress. People buying into hope are by definition buying into the mitigation of fear.

badrabbit10• 4 years ago

Sure did. The economy bush screwed up recovered, a lot of stimulus packages helped many americans. Obamacare passed, bin laden getting killed in '11 was good too. Of course I said Obama in 08 for a reason, Obama in '12 not so much and of course '16 was a shitshow.

AlexTWithBeard6• 4 years ago

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat W. Churchill

Sometimes fear is the right thing to sell.

vmilner• 4 years ago

He lost the next election by a landslide, however...

badrabbit10• 4 years ago

If it inspires hope, sure. That was hope of victory right there not fear of doom.

Why does no one seem to read what I am saying? I am talking about how viters feel not what politicians say. "Make america great again" sounds hopeful for example but it means you are afraid america will go to shit otherwise. In other words, if not voting for your guy feels like doom ("if I don't vote for biden the world ends" to be non-partisan) bad times ahead.

ramblerman• 4 years ago

What a simplistic statement.

Not only does it it denigrate any concern Italians have about their economy and their future. It carries the same hubris as politicians that say they are "on the right side of history".

Bernie Maddof sold hope, as do most holistic healers, it's not a great measure to go by.

badrabbit10• 4 years ago

You are talking about the people who are voted in, I am talking about the mindset of the voters. Optimism indicates more economic activity and less social unrest and instability.

fdewrewrewf2• 4 years ago

That's an overly-simplistic breakdown. Almost all campaigns I've seen, across political stripes, include an element of "don't let the other guys win!". After all, it was Hillary's main selling point.

Also, even those candidates widely regarded as "fearful" actually had campaigns based on hope, of bringing in a better world if only certain problems could be fixed. I'll leave you to fill in the obvious blanks.

badrabbit10• 4 years ago

Again, you also are talking about candidates. It doesn't matter what the candidates say, if the people are voting because they are afraid that reflects on upcoming economic health and legislative activity (while democracy works that is).

In America, Obama in 08 was the last time most voters votes out of hope instead of fear. Whether you fear biden or trup, fear is fear. Bad shit ahead, buckle in haha.

bergenty• 4 years ago

Let’s just hope these places have enough time to understand exactly what policies they’re voting for before the world plunged into war like every other time in history when populism like this succeeds.

tarakat• 4 years ago

Which policy that Meloni promised do you think could lead to war?

krageon• 4 years ago

I think it is more about a structural change in EU politics: Far, far more right-wing adherence and populist parties at the top. This means poor stewardship and knee-jerk politics, which does tend to lead to war.

hackerlight• 4 years ago

She's a fascist, and fascists tend to like war more than non-fascists.

fdewrewrewf2• 4 years ago

Democracy is a popularity contest.

bilekas2• 4 years ago

Democracy is supposed to be a popularity contest.

It's not always though.

MisterSandman2• 4 years ago

Yes, and populism and popularity contests are two different things.

up2isomorphism• 4 years ago

Reuters seems never called left-wing won when something it likes came into power.

bilekas2• 4 years ago

This is because "Right-wing" has just become synonymous with extremism.

Hamuko• 4 years ago

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/left-wing-bloc-seen-sli...

https://www.reuters.com/world/greenlands-left-wing-ia-party-...

And if we accept "leftist" as an acceptable synonym: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-new-leftist-pr...

dapf2• 4 years ago

The like Macron left-wing, they didn't like the other guys.

Just like they liked Obama Neo-lib style, but not Bernies.

Original statement is still correct.

licebmi__at__• 4 years ago

Maybe because they like centrist neolibs to come to power, so it would be innacurate to call them left-wing when they do reach power.

lnsru• 4 years ago

That’s so beautiful about modern democracy - promise peasants heaven on earth. Get some shady funding to buy ice cream/beer/organize couple village festivals. And here you go, you are elected and can stuff money into the pockets of your sponsors and of course yourself. Not big secret already known in Roman times.

hulitu• 4 years ago

That’s so beautiful about modern democracy - promise peasants heaven on earth. Get some shady funding to buy ice cream/beer/organize couple village festivals.

Everybody is doing it, so it must be good.

AzzieElbab2• 4 years ago

I don’t know anything about Meloni or her platform and apparently neither does anyone else in this thread. Ppl are relentlessly projecting US politics on everything

MisterSandman2• 4 years ago

Imaging thinking that political corruption is an American thing and anyone validly criticising a politician is "projecting US politics."

N19PEDL2• 4 years ago

At least I am glad to see that Salvini and Berlusconi got such low percentages. They are more populist and demagogic than Meloni.

Italy's right wing, led by Meloni, wins election, exit polls say

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