Lega: Salvini re-elected as secretary with 76 per cent of the vote. Garavaglia received 24 per cent
The outgoing secretary received 146 votes. The challenger received 146
Key points
Matteo Salvini has been re-elected as secretary of the Lega for the fourth time. He will remain in office for four years, until 2030. This is the result of the vote at the party’s extraordinary congress, which was held by secret ballot. Salvini received 465 votes in favour. As for his challenger Massimo Garavaglia received 146 votes. Garavaglia, who had managed, with some difficulty, to gather the 80 signatures required to stand as a candidate, increased his support behind closed doors. Voting took place in a booth closed off by a curtain. The ballot paper is blank, with the names to be filled in by hand.
Salvini: No more money or weapons for Ukraine
“No more money or weapons for Ukraine.” “Federalism: the future of our country.” And a new logo: “Lega Italia federale”, no longer featuring “Salvini premier”. And further: “Political Islam is a cancer on the West”. “We are patriots because this EU needs to be overhauled from top to bottom; it is nothing but a huge burden”. “I regret having been part of the Draghi government, and I take full responsibility for it: never again”. These are some of the key passages from Matteo Salvini’s speech from the stage at the Lega’s extraordinary congress, currently taking place in Milan. In his address, the outgoing secretary listed the party’s achievements during its four years in government, ranging from the fight against illegal immigration to education. He did not shy away from attacking journalists either: ‘I asked the organisers,’ he claimed, ‘to keep the journalists downstairs’ and not in the hall with the delegates ‘so as not to taint delegates and party members who do not deserve to be surrounded by certain people who are not here to report on the Lega’.
Salvini: if I am confirmed as secretary, I will tell the Council of Ministers to stop funding Ukraine
“This conference, if you re-elect me as secretary, will give me a mandate to go to the Council of Ministers and set out the League’s clear position: we cannot continue to send money to Ukraine,” Salvini emphasised in his speech before the vote.
‘I regret supporting the Draghi government with the PD – never again’
He then offered a self-critical assessment of his support for the Draghi government: “I hope no one ever suggests to the League that we join the European People’s Party and form governments with the Socialists; I already regret having been part of the Draghi government, and I take full responsibility for that: never again,” said Salvani. And to his challenger Garavaglia, who spoke of his meetings with business leaders in the North, he said: “If they were to vote for us as well, that would be even better… because the business leaders in the North who asked us to join the Draghi government ended up voting for the very people who didn’t join the Draghi government…”
Salvini unveils ‘Lega Italia Federale’ logo similar to that of ’94
Finally, the launch of the new logo. “If I am confirmed as secretary, I will propose to the Federal Council an idea that has already featured in the League’s history. I have dug out a logo from Bossi’s time in ’94. The new one will be ‘Lega Italia federale’.” Without Salvini as Prime Minister. Alberto da Giussano remains.
