>> nasa has achieved something humanity has never done before. the space agency deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid millions of kilometers away to test whether we can stop objects from hitting earth by slightly changing their trajectory. the kremlin has admitted it made mistakes in its mobilization of reservists to fight in ukraine after his sparked anger, protests, and exodus of russian men.

demonstrations have continued, including in remote areas. the u.s. has warned russia that using nuclear weapons in ukraine would have catastrophic consequences after russia's foreign minister pledged full protection for regions annexed in separatist referendums in ukraine. the votes are being held in four ukrainian regions occupied by russian forces. tens of thousands of people rallied in mexico city to mark the eighth anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students. the group was kidnapped as they were traveling to a demonstration in 2014 at have not been seen alive since. investigators say students were handed over to a drug cartel by corrupt police. for 2022 as it approved the spending plan, retired soldiers broke through a security cord and to reach parliament. the country reese's an unprecedented economic crisis with many people falling into poverty over the last three years.

hurricane ian is growing stronger as it heads toward the western tip of cuba. thousands of people are preparing to leave their homes in the province of p nadal rio. -- pina del rio. the british pound has fallen to an all-time low against the dollar for partially recovering. it plunged 5% as markets opened in asia on monday. the dive comes as concerns are going over the u.k. economy. the government unveiled major tax cuts on friday. those are your headlines. inside story coming up next.

hazem: we literally have its firs female prime minister? a coalition led by giorgia meloni is set to take a majority of seats in parliament which will pave the way for the country's first far right government since world war ii. what will that mean for italy and europe? hello and welcome to the program. i am hazem sika. italy appears to be on course to elect its first female prime minister and first far right leader since benito mussolini. the coalition will be led by giorgia meloni who is credited with giving her party and meteor cries it needed to win a national election. analysts say her uncompromising attitude has struck a chord with a frustrated electorate who see her as the only political option

left untested. giorgia meloni said voters gave her a clear mandate to govern and she will lead for all italians. the election had a record low turnout of 64%, down 8% from the previous election in 2018. for more, we have a report from stephanie decker in rome. >> as predicted, the night went to the right. giorgia meloni wasted no time addressing her supporters in italy. >> when this night is over we will remember this is a new beginning. from tomorrow on we will have to show what our values are worth. if we are called to govern and lead this nation we will do it for every single italian with the goal to unite these people because our biggest goal is to make sure italians are finally proud again to fly our flag hi.

polls 7:00 a.m.. all in all, 16 hours of voting. there has been a steady stream of people coming to vote despite the rain and even though most people are not telling us who they voted for, what is clear is that opinions are very strong on both sides. >> i'm voting because it is a duty and a right that we finally can express. we do not have many rights left so i will vote in the hope italy will come out of this swamp in which we are stuck. i'm hoping for really big change because we really need it. >> i'm terrified there will be changes. >> it has been a divisive election. not only raising questions of what will change inside italy, but how italy will present itself abroad. >> the main challenge for giorgia meloni as prime minister would be to be accepted by the main european council as a

partner. otherwise if she will push too far on her agenda, whether it will be very soon problems for the italian economy and the relationship with the eu. >> there will be consultations before the italian president appoints a prime minister. that seems to be all but a formality. giorgia meloni is set to be italy's first female prime minister. the question then, what will hurriedly look like? >> who exactly is giorgia meloni ? she grew up in rome and has been in politics since age 15. now at 45 she has been the head of the far right brothers of italy party for eight years, credited with helping again national support by pledging to

reduce taxes, promote italy's standing in the eu, and continue supporting sanctions against russia. her hardline views on immigration and what she calls the preservation of the christian family have raised fears of a return to controversial policies. let's bring in our guests now, joining us via skype from rome. cecilia emma sottilotta at the american university of rome. joining us from brussels is pieter cleppe, editor in chief at the brussels report. e.u. joining us --andrea mammone at sapienza university in rome.

what are people hoping to get from giorgia meloni? cecilia: the main issue will be the cost-of-living crisis. the italian electorate has been very much dissatisfied with traditional parties over the past few years. probably the excellent result giorgia meloni obtained was caused by and helped by dissatisfaction. now is the time for her to deliver i guess on electoral promises. hazem: do you think she will have much scope to put the ideas she wants into practice against this backdrop of the economic problems that were mentioned? energy shortages, inflation, looming recession possibly, and the war in ukraine? pieter: well, i don't know what she will be able to deliver honestly. what we have seen as usual is

left of propaganda from the majority of parties. i am 100% sure she will make life much harder for immigrants for example in italy and also there will be issues in terms of civil rights, especially i am talking about the lgbt community. but also writes for abortion and women. in terms of international politics, she claimed to reassure the international partners she will be backing ukraine, the european union, and nato. the transatlantic alliance with the united states. i think we should try to do so as much as possible but clashes are possible. we have seen far right parties

joining a coalition or leading a coalition, they moderate themselves. the last election, we had a government with the league led by matteo cell meaning -- salvini. leading to clashes with other european countries for the refugees and migrants. hazem: let's talk about italy's dealings with the european union. it has been said by one of giorgia meloni's opponents that the european union will lose an engine and acquire a brake. do you expect things to be contentious or is she going to have to make compromises? >> it depends what you are talking about. it is clear that giorgia meloni

is very keen on the european fence that will flow from the eu covid recovery fund. she wants to spend it to different things that the proceeding government was going to spend it on. when it comes to that, giorgia meloni is not going to rock the boat. she likes that money. however when it comes to immigration, she is definitely not going to sign up to the plans that some of the european commissioners have in mind for immigration. she actually wants to follow the danish and british model to sort of and the migration chaos and to do that she is looking at outsourcing asylum processing. people should understand this is actually in itself unrelated to whether you want less or more migration. it is basically a way to make sure migrants can only enter the

the territory after they have received a yes. it is very interesting to see also italy now likely to pursue that course. hazem: do you think this government led by giorgia meloni as expected is going to have to make compromises? she has already sounded conciliatory. what are you expecting? >> i think her top priority is going to be to reassure both the italian public and italy's partners in terms of foreign policy. to add to what the previous speakers were saying about the european union, i expect giorgia meloni to be very compliant when it comes to for instance finances. italy has a huge amount of government debt.

we are talking about 150% of gdp. she's very well aware of the constraints that come with being members of the eurozone hazem: she changed -- of the eurozone. she changed her rhetoric during the campaign. it was easy to be critical of mario draghi's cabinet and the european union, but we note this shift is and her rhetoric as the campaign proceeded toward softer conciliatory tones. vis-a-vis the european union. i think she's going to make compromises for sure. hazem: let's put the point to andrea about the change in tone. it begs the question of, what does giorgia meloni truly believe? she represents this party that has its roots in italian fascism. yet she has softened her tone on a number of issues. what do you make of that? andrea: naturally when she

released that video talking about fascism, which in reality she was not -- she said fascism was -- she never said mussolini was the worst prime minister. she had to change the tone. she had to reassure the international partners. but this is a far right party. hazem: are you suggesting the change in tone is not genuine on her part? purely political? andrea: yes. if we look at for example immigration, which is something she has touched, this is

xenophobic, this is far right. also just before the electoral campaign, it was very controversial. we shouldn't not forget the previous program of the coalition was highly critical of the european union. she knew she was going to win because the base was clear on that but i do not believe there has been a change in what the party believes in terms of protecting the nation, protecting christian values, being against for example same-sex marriages, being against as i said before immigration. and though these types of issues , which are similar to other far right nationalist parties across europe and the west, there is trying to present the party in a different way, but the reality,

the core of the party is still neofascist and 100% far right. hazem: what comparisons would you draw between the far right movement in italy and elsewhere in europe? we saw another election in sweden a couple weeks ago in which a far right party did very well and is now going to be a major part of the next government. how do they compare or how do brothers of italy compare with them and this far right wave of populism that has swept across parts of europe? pieter: it's a very interesting question. both sweden and italy, you can see very dodgy, dirty origins. the fascists, the post-fascist movements include re--- in italy is clearly linked with her party and the sweden democrats were started by skinheads.

i do think in both cases there are objective changes in official policy stances, certainly in sweden i think yes, the party is slightly populist, but it is very close to the center right. it also depends which politician you are talking about. if you listen to giorgia meloni on russia, she has also changed her stance. she has congratulated pruden in 2014 -- congratulated vladimir putin in 2014 for conquering crimea and for his quote unquote election. now she has been solidly in favor of ukraine. that is undeniable. this is i think typical for wider trends of these antiestablishment parties across europe. they feel that to get to power, they have to abandon some of that luggage so to speak.

in itself that is a welcome development. it is good to have parties that were holding more authoritarian opinions are abandoning those. we will have to seize and practice whether they stick to those. i think in the case of giorgia meloni, when it comes to russia, she will. let's not forget also in france and germany, politicians have been a lot more careful when it comes to sanctions for example. it is good among european democracy we have healthy debate. but ultimately there was a united front against russian aggression. i personally think in the end italy will stick with the european alliance and the western alliance on this topic. hazem: as with all recent

italian governments she is not going to be able to govern on her own. she has a coalition with matteo salvini's league and berlusconi's force-out italia party. there are internal tensions there. there was this type of salvini -- tape of salvini making disparaging remarks that it has been reported that berlusconi does not get along with her. how difficult is that going to be to keep the strands of the coalition together? >> this is the big question everybody is asking. how long will this coalition survive? we have to consider that italy has not really tururned right in the sense that giorgia meloni did not steal votes from the left. the transfers of votes have been mostly internal to the coalition. matteo salvini gave a press

conference a few hours ago and it was livid because his party had lost a lot. and had lost a lot to giorgia meloni's party. he was trying to say they are a solid majority, a solid coalition, they are going to rule the party, they are aligned , but many questions by the journalists were pointing to his possible regrets or perhaps problems with the fact that giorgia meloni did better than him. the first obstacle will be a disgruntled matteo salvini as a junior coalition partner. and naturally berlusconi. berlusconi is a question mark. he is another big personality. all of them are big egos. berlusconi clearly wants to be the kingmaker within the coalition. so i think she will have to

overcome a number of challenges, not just externally, but also within her own coalition. especially considering this is going to be a very harsh winter for italy and europe in general with the energy crisis, with the cost of living going up, and a lot of room perhaps for contestation inside and outside the coalition. hazem: if we look at the pattern of italian elections the last few years, there does seem to be waves of popularity for anti-establishment parties. matteo salvini's league a few years ago, the five-star movement, but each one of them fizzled away. do you expect a similar thing to continue? is this the next wave?

andrea: it is possible. we are not talking about a movement like the five-star suddenly gaining votes from everywhere in the political system. we are talking about an internal job in the sense that -- internal jump in that giorgia meloni is taking these votes from parallel lines. . the end of the day, what matters is essentially the fact that they have a majority, so they will not lose mp's. they can change things even if rates are going down. it is possible there will be problems.

scandals and so on. but a governmental crisis is a more complex issue and it will also depend on the international setting. hazem: do you feel that italy could go the same direction as poland or hungary? these are countries where the far right governments have not only been consistently popular, they have been accused of backsliding on democracy and changing the system to suit them. there is a fear the same situation may happen with giorgia meloni. particularly that she has had good things to say about victor or bond -- viktor orban, the leader of hungary. >> if you ask ursula bandar lion, she found it necessary -- ursula von der leyen, she said

if the vote does not go the right way, we have certain tools at our disposition -- i would not say that is a very smart thing to say just before a democratic election coming from an unelected european commission official. you know at the european union level, often of course you have these attempts to try to contribute to a better rule of law environment in countries where indeed there are problems. in poland and hungary, there are many problems. the first thing is the risk of double standards. nobody talks about romania bulgaria. there are very serious problems with the rule of law. because of political reasons, these countries can escape eu criticism.

also i would say it is very strange that indeed you have these problems in poland and hungary but sometimes also italy , and when the european recovery fund was agreed, senior officials of the italian justice system were warning that organized crime was going to be ready to try to rip off a lot of that money. that's already the problem with a lot of eu spending. so i would say if the european union is so concerned about the rule of law in certain member states, in organized crime getting their hands on all that money, perhaps they should you know, start reducing these funds. when we are talking about that, eu institutions are never that enthusiastic. they are keen on those funds. hazem: i'm going to give the

last one to cecelia. it is worth remembering italian governments generally do not have a long life. the average government last 20 months. what are the prospects for this one? do you expect the same theme to continue? cecilia: they have a chance to be more stable compared to other coalitions because for one, they are much more homogeneous than the last coalitions italy saw in power. if i can just add something about conditionality and disbursement of funds, the problem with covid recovery in general was that the plan was an emergency situation, there was no room, no time to negotiate conditionality for italy or

other countries. let's remember, italy was the first country to be very hardly hit. italy also experienced a lack of solidarity by large member states at the beginning of the pandemic when germany and france for instance stopped exports of protective equipment even to other eu member states. the european union was very concerned about restoring its image as an actor that can intervene with a positive impact in crisis. that is what explains -- that explains what was being said before about the lack of conditionality. hazem: with that we are going to have to leave it. thank you to all three of you, cecilia emma sottilotta, pieter cleppe, and andrea mammone. and thank you as always for watching. you can see the program any time, just go to al jazeera.com. for further discussion go to our facebook page, facebook.com/a.j.

inside story. you can join the conversation on twitter. from me, hazem sika, and the whole team, goodbye for now. o;o;ó7ó7oñéñéñéñéñéñéñéñéñéñéñóñ o