SW News: Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni took oath as Italy’s first female prime minister on Saturday in the presence of President Sergio Mattarella. Meloni won the election on a campaign that promised to stop illegal immigration and promote family-friendly policies.
Meloni's party Brothers of Italy had won 26% of the vote in the September election.
Matteo Salvini’s League party and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party are also part of the governing coalition.
In the new government, the Brothers of Italy got nine ministries whereas the other two parties received five ministries each. Salvini will serve as the minister of infrastructure, while Antonio Tajani from the Forza Italia party will take the role of minister of foreign affairs, and Guido Crosetto, who is one of the founders of the brothers of Italy party, will serve as the defense minister.
The 45-year-old Meloni entered Italy’s politics in 1992 and in 2012 she co-founded the Brothers of Italy. “Italians have sent a clear message in favor of a right-wing government led by Brothers of Italy,” she said soon after winning the election.
Her speech in Spain last June before the election showcased her priorities, in which Meloni stressed her Christian ideologies.
She said, "Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology... no to Islamist violence, yes to secure borders, no to mass migration... no to big international finance... no to the bureaucrats of Brussels!"
She has also often raised her voice for persecuted Christians.