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Paradoxes within the Italian government coalition
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini

“THE paradox of a right-wing government also voted by the workers” is how Italian communists characterise the country’s coalition of incompatible left and right-wing populists.

Just weeks in office Italy’s right-wing “populist” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is making progress in his strategy to reconfigure Italian politics and cannibalise the voting base of his coalition partner Luigi Di Maio’s Moviemento Quinque Stella (Five Star Movement or 5SM).

New opinion polls show Salvini’s Lega (formerly Lega Nord but rebranded to appeal to voters in Italy’s south) overtaking M5S — and eclipsing the election result — while a clear majority of Italy’s voters back Salvini’s headline-grabbing refusal to allow the Aquarius refugee rescue ship to dock in Italy.

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