Italy Elections: Polls favor former PM Berlusconi's right-wing coalition

World
Europe

Italy's election is unlikely to produce a clear winner. Polls predict a right-wing coalition, headed by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, has the best chance of garnering the 40 percent of votes needed for governing. Kate Parkinson is in Rome with the details.

Silvio Berlusconi has made a dramatic return to the frontline of Italian politics.

Despite sex scandals and a fraud conviction that bars him from holding public office, the former prime minister has one last political victory in his sites.

Berlusconi is heading a rightwing coalition that's leading in the polls, and is positioning himself as a potential kingmaker — the more moderate statesman that can keep Italy's populist and far-right forces in check.

But Berlusconi's coalition partners are far-right parties.

And anti-migrant sentiment has given them significant gains.

The slogan of Matteo Salvini, who heads the League, is "Italians First".

And he's promising a mass expulsion of the 600,000 asylum-seekers who have arrived in Italy in the past two years.

In Italy, we can't stand it anymore. But it's not a question of being racist or not. They are coming in an uncontrolled way and we need to stop this type of immigration.

As a prime minister, I would like to have Salvini. No doubt.

Film director, Luca Miniero, says Italy is heading in a dangerous direction and Italians should not forget the lessons of history when they cast their votes.

His new film is a satirical mockumentary that depicts fascist dictator Benito Mussolini staging a political comeback in modern Italy.

LUCA MINIERO FILM DIRECTOR "It shows maybe not now comes back the fascism, but the situation in the film it's the same as when the fascism came in Italy. The problem now is not the fascism but xenophobia, intolerance, racism. They are back, they are here in our present."

KATE PARKINSON ROME Salvini certainly has his sights set on Italy's top job. But he's not Berlusconi's first choice, despite the two being coalition partners. But if the League secures the most amount of seats for the rightwing bloc then Berlusconi is going to struggle to call the shots and Italy may well find itself with a far-right leader. Kate Parkinson, CGTN, Rome.