Rachele Mussolini leaves Fdi: 'I moderate and centrist, I go with Fi'

Rachele Mussolini , the Duce's niece and the most voted councillor in the Capitoline assembly, is leaving Fratelli d'Italia to move to Forza Italia: "They are all informed. I thank Fdi for having believed in me and having supported me for two candidacies, the affection and esteem remain, but for me it is time to turn the page and land in a party that I feel is closer to my moderate and centrist sensibility'. The reason for the move from Via della Scrofa, according to an article in Repubblica, is the different sensibility on rights compared to Fdi, which has 'right-wing' positions. In August, in the political controversy over the Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif had taken a different position from the party's prevailing one, speaking of an 'unworthy witch hunt'.

Daughter born from the second marriage of Romano Mussolini (talented jazz musician, fourth son of the leader of Fascism) and half-sister of Alessandra Mussolini, born in 1974, Rachele Mussolini is in her second term on the Capitol. In the local elections of 2021 she was the most voted councillor in Rome with 8,600 preferences.

In June, there had been talk of her standing as a candidate for the European elections, which then faded: 'I am proud of my surname, for my father,' she told Corriere della sera. I know it is heavy, but not a problem in FdI. When I first became a politician by putting my face to it, in 2016, FdI asked me to put myself in the front line and supported me,' she continued. 'I am certain, however, that at the European elections, my name would have been spoken of, they would have said "Meloni candida la nipote del Duce"'.

Even in 2022 she was not included in the lists for the general elections. 'Today I would not deserve the candidature,' she said, 'and then I have a surname that is certainly heavy, cumbersome'. In 2018, however, she was in the running for a deputy seat: 'But it was a service candidacy'.