Giorgia Meloni’s conservative Fratelli D’Italia party (FdI) has cemented its lead in the latest opinion poll ahead of the September 25 general election.

The rightwing party is now on 25.8 per cent according to Radar SWG, more than four percentage points ahead of the second-ranked party, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), on 21.4 per cent.

Meloni, a 45-year-old Roman, is widely expected to become Italy’s first woman premier after the vote.

FdI’s main ally, the rightwing Lega party, is third on 12.1 per cent in the poll, closely followed by the leftwing populist 5-Star Movement, which is running independently, who is on 11.9 per cent.

The centrist Azione-Italia Viva (IV) alliance is fifth on 7.2 per cent, followed by the third cog in the centre right machine, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) party, in sixth on 6.7 per cent.

The PD’s main allies, Europa Verde-Italian Left (SI), are on 4.2 per cent and other leftwing parties total about 3-4 per cent.

The centre-right coalition is on 46.1 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from last week, and the centre-left coalition is on 28.8 per cent.

The centre right is projected to win by a landslide and may get the two thirds majority in both houses it needs to pass a Constitutional reform bringing in a directly elected Italian president without having to put the issue to a referendum.

Ahead of these latest results, Democratic Party (PD) leader Enrico Letta said on Tuesday that a landslide victory for the right/centre-right in the September 25 general election would pose risks for democracy.

“I want to launch an alarm for Italian democracy,” Letta told a Zoom call with candidates for the centre-left group.

“I’m weighing my words. I don’t want to use them lightly.

“We have 17 days to change the history of our country and stop that alarm for Italian democracy becoming a reality”.

Ex-premier Letta said there was a risk that the Italian Constitution would be “turned upside down” if the centre-right wins over two-thirds of the seats in parliament, which would enable it to change the charter without a referendum.

He compared the scenario to that of the UK after Brexit, saying the EU won’t save Italy if the right wins.