Just taking a look at the titles of foreign newspapers it’s easy to understand that in the rest of the world, of the globe and maybe of the universe nobody understood why the Italian politician in love with plastic surgery has been elected Prime Minister again.

Actually there are also some Italians who are still trying to understand it.

But maybe what has been even more shocking than the re-election of Mr Berlusconi it has been the strength and the power that a small party from north Italy, Lega Nord, got in the last elections.

The Partito del Popolo della Libertà (Party of People of Freedom), that gathers Forza Italia (Berlusconi’) and Alleanza Nazionale, must thank Lega for its victory.

The bewilderment hasn’t been that a small party has become stronger, this wouldn’t be weird in a democracy, the bewilderment has been in knowing that THAT party has grown.

Lega Nord was born in 1991 and its declared aims have always been: secession of north Italy from the rest of the Country, transformation of Italy into a federal State, fiscal federalism and regional autonomy for the north regions. Many times Lega has been accused of being a racist and homophobic party because of its leaders’ statements, interviews and speeches: Giancarlo Gentilini, former mayor of Treviso, said “We should dress them [immigrants] up like hares and bang-bang-bang”, Umberto Bossi (in the photo) proposed to open fire on the boats of immigrants who would disembark in Italy and Erminio Boso suggested to segregate immigrants in different train cars from native Italians. Yes, maybe tolerance isn’t their strong point.

Umberto Bossi’s party has been already Berlusconi’s ally in the past. In 1994 they won the elections together, but before the end of the first year Lega brought the Government down.

In 1995 referring to Berlusconi Bossi stated: “You’ll have to run away from North during the night with your wife and your sons and suitcases. They understood you are a ‘mafioso’”. And Silvio, after saying “When he talks Bossi seems a drunk in a bar”, stated “I’ll never sit again[with Bossi] at the same table”

But we all know that there is not a value such as friendship, so forgetting about all their past squabbles in 2000 Italy saw the two leaders walking arms in arms again.

In 2001 they won the general elections. After the victory Lega got three Ministries: Labour and Social Affairs, Justice and Devolution.

Now that the party has strongly grown, compared with the 2001 elections, we’ll just have to wait and see when and, above all, how Lega will use the high percentage of votes gotten as weapon to influence the construction and the next decisions of the new Government.

Silvio, what are you going to do with them?

Photo from Repubblica.it