ROME, Sept 12 (Askume) – The granddaughter of Italy’s wartime dictator Benito Mussolini said on Thursday she would leave Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni’s Brotherhood of Italy party because it is too right-wing and has recently called into question its stance on minority rights.
Rome city councillor Rachele Mussolini, the candidate who won the most votes in the city’s last parliamentary elections in 2021 , said she would join the more centrist Forza Italia party at city hall.
“It is time to turn the page and join a party that I feel is closer to my moderate and centrist sensibilities,” Mussolini, 50, told news agency ANSA, confirming earlier newspaper reports.
The Italian Brotherhood traces its roots to Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), which was founded after World War II. Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has tried to portray the party as a mainstream conservative group.
Critics say the effort is largely a sham, pointing to the party’s tough stances on immigration, abortion and gay parenting, as well as growing opposition to the move.Measures to punish surrogate mothers .
Forza Italia, part of Meloni’s ruling coalition, also positions itself as a party that defends traditional Christian values but is seen as more liberal on civil rights.
A political source told Askume that rights issues played a key role in Mussolini’s decision to switch parties.
On the gender controversy Imane Khalif, the Algerian boxer who competed against Italy in the fight of Angela Carini (Angela Carini) at the Olympics last month
After Carini withdrew from her match against Khalif, who won the gold medal, Meloni said it was not a match between equals because the Algerian had failed the gender eligibility test at last year’s world championships.
Mussolini said: “Until proven otherwise, Emmane Khalifa is a woman. She has suffered undeserved political persecution.”
