ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ

On March 4, 2018 the citizens of Italy went to the ballot box to choose the new members of the Chamber of Deputies and Senators. Roughly two weeks before the election day, the polls were led by the anti-establishment party The Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle), founded in 2009 by an Italian comedian Beppe Grillo. Grillo’s group, supported by ** percent of the voting population, has overtaken the democratic party (Partito Democratico) in the poll on voters’ intention, resulting **** percent ahead of its opposition. The right-wing, eurosceptic and anti-immigrant party Lega Nord ranked fourth, with **** percent of Italians planning to support them in the upcoming election.

Anti-establishment and right-wing coalition

The results of the election confirmed the leading position of Movimento 5 Stelle and the centre-right block. Over **** of the citizens’ votes went to The Five Star Movement, whereas about ** percent of Italians stamped a cross in the voting square of Lega Nord. The support for Partito Democratico turned out lower than predicted by the polls and the party scored **** percent in the ballots. Since no political group reached the majority requested to create the government, the leaders of Five Stars and Lega begun negotiations on a coalition. After about three-month-long discussions the parties came to an agreement and a populist Italian government under the leadership of the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was sworn in on June 1, 2018.

Clouds of populism over Europe

In the recent years, populism has been gathering steam across the European continent. In 2018, the strongest populist voice could be heard from Hungary, Greece and Poland, where the share of population voting for populist parties reached more than ** percent. However, the trend has been gaining ground not only in some particular countries – the number of Europeans living in a country with at least one populist in the cabinet increased over *** times between 1998 and 2018.