Early results suggested her nationalist party would be the top vote-getter, leaving Ms. Meloni poised to be Italy’s first female prime minister and the first with post-Fascist roots.
With the hard-right candidate Giorgia Meloni ahead before Sunday’s election, Italy could get its first leader whose party traces its roots to the wreckage of Fascism.
Giorgia Meloni, the nationalist politician who is the front-runner to become prime minister, sees “The Lord of the Rings” as not just a series of novels, but also a sacred text.