The granddaughter of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is likely to get the most votes in Rome’s municipal election.
According to today’s almost final calculations, the most popular candidate is Raquel Mussolini from the far-right brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia). Raquel, 47, received more than 8,200 votes after the ballots were counted in more than 97% of polling stations in the Italian capital.
Ms. Mussolini, who will serve a second term as a member of the city council, insists that her last name has nothing to do with her popularity. “Personality is more important than last name, no matter what trace it leaves,” she said in an interview with La Republica.
Raquel’s late father, Romano, was a jazz pianist and the fourth child of a fascist dictator. Her half-sister Alessandra, another granddaughter of Mussolini, was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019.
Right-wing parties showed relatively low results in local elections in Italy, losing the mayoral race in key cities such as Milan, Naples and Bologna. But a second round of elections is scheduled for later this month in Rome between right-wing candidate Enrico Miketti and former center-left finance minister Roberto Gualtieri.
After incumbent Virginia Ruggy left the 5 Star Movement (M5S), opinion polls show that Gualtieri is the favorite to win in two weeks.