Meloni looks set to be premier if right wins election

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 28 - Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgio Meloni looks set to become Italy's next premier if the right/centre-right coalition wins the September 25 general election after the alliance agreed that the party that gets most votes should pick the name to put to President Sergio Mattarella.
    The agreement was reached at a meeting of right/centre-right leaders on Wednesday after the issue of the future premier had caused some turmoil within the alliance.
    Meloni, whose right-wing party is currently top of the opinion polls, laid down an ultimatum on Monday, saying there was no point being in an alliance without an agreement on the premier candidate.
    Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) had proposed putting off the decision to a vote of centre-right lawmakers after the election.
    "Let's win first and then see who lifts the cup," FI Coordinator Antonio Tajani had said.
    But Meloni's stance prevailed at Wednesday's meeting after League leader Matteo Salvini had also come out in favour of the principle that the party that gets most votes should also get the right to choose the premier nominee.
    "Giorgia Meloni has the right credentials and authoritativeness to be the premier of a high-level government, that is creditable at the international level and is solidly tied to Europe, as does Matteo Salvini and many other figures in Forza Italia and other parts of the coalition," Berlusconi said in an interview in Thursday's edition of QN daily. (ANSA).