‘A sad day for Italy and Europe’ calls PD leader Enrico Letta on Meloni’s victory

Leader of the Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Enrico Letta has sought to strike a sad note as he called far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s election as ‘a sad day for Italy and Europe.’

The former Italian Prime Minister added during a press conference in Rome, “Today is a sad day for Italy, for Europe, hard days lie ahead of us. We fought in every way to evade this outcome, we fought for our values and with the idea of taking Italy into the future.”

The PD has bagged around 19% of the overall votes. Moreover, the left-leaning, unaligned 5-Star Movement bagged 15%. Centrist “Action” group was able to bag just 8% of votes.

Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlisconi’s Forza Italia are Meloni’s allies. The alliance faces a lot of challenges ahead. These include rising energy prices, the Ukraine war and an economic slowdown.

The coalition government of Meloni will be Italy’s 68th since 1946. The current Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi will remain as caretaker PM for now and it is expected that Meloni’s government will not be installed before end of October.

“This result is also a very strong incentive for all of us to keep fighting so that this election result is one that, I repeat, does not move Italy from the place where it belongs, in the heart of Europe and in the heart of the values of our republican constitution,” Letta added.