That is even better than the 26 per cent FdI won in the 2022 general election that thrust her to power.
“It’s an even more beautiful night than two years ago,” Meloni said in an address early on Monday.
“Italy can present itself at the G7 and in Europe with the strongest government of all,” said Meloni, who will chair the G7 summit in Puglia this week.
“It is a source of satisfaction and a great responsibility too,” she continued.
“In our case, they saw us coming, but they still couldn’t stop us.”
The opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD), led by another woman, Elly Schlein, did well too, coming second with 24.5 per cent, according to the projections.
Schlein hailed the outcome as an “extraordinary result”.
The other main opposition party, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), came a long way back in third with 10.5 per cent.
Within the ruling centre-right alliance, the projections put Antonio Tajani’s Forza Italia (FI) and Noi Moderati on 9.2 per cent, ahead of Matteo Salvini’s League on 8.5 per cent.
It was the first nationwide vote since the death last year of FI’s founder, ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The Green-Left Alliance (AVS) was on 6.8 per cent, well above the threshold of 4 per cent needed to get MEPs elected.
But the United States of Europe (SUE) list presented by ex-PM Matteo Renzi and Former Foreign minister and European Commissioner Emma Bonino was just below the 4 per cent mark.
Meanwhile another centrist group, former Industry Minister Carlo Calenda’s Azione was also under the entry bar with just 3.2 per cent.
Azione and Renzi’s Italia Viva (IV) party ran together in the 2022 general election as the ‘Third Pole’ and got over 7 per cent of the vote.
ANSA
