Opinion | Giorgia Meloni Is No Fascist, but Can She Revive Italy’s Economy?

The pre-election polls were right for once. A right-wing coalition was widely predicted to win Italy’s elections on Sunday. And it did, handily. Giorgia Meloni’s party, the Brothers of Italy, carried 26% of the vote, with the other conservative parties bringing the total up to 44%, making her the undisputed leader of the conservative coalition that will have a majority in Italy’s new Parliament.

The victory has made Ms. Meloni, 45, the object of widespread international perplexity and even abuse. She has been portrayed as the heir of Benito Mussolini and the harbinger of a new fascism. Yet whatever Italian democracy’s many faults, it isn’t toppling, and there is no risk of authoritarianism. Ms. Meloni, a career politician, has been vocal in defending Parliament’s prerogatives against encroachments by the executive branch. She owes her victory at least in part to opposing the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic, which included draconian lockdowns—the most authoritarian policy Italians experienced in generations since World War II.