Can anything stop Italy’s radical right?

can be bewilderingly complex. Five big parties and many small ones will compete in the general election on September 25th. Before that they will shuffle into an uncertain number of electoral alliances. Yet already the race to replace Mario Draghi’s fallen government is boiling down to one question. Is there anything her adversaries can do to prevent Giorgia Meloni (pictured), leader of the hard-right Brothers of Italy (d) party, from becoming the next prime minister?Ms Meloni’s party is part of an alliance that also includes the nationalist Northern League, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and some smaller parties. Polling currently suggests that this group could win more than 45% of votes, which should be enough for a majority in parliament. On July 27th the alliance renewed an agreement which dictates that, should they triumph, the leader of the party with the most votes will become prime minister. Ms Meloni’s party is polling around ten percentage points ahead of the League and 15 points ahead of Forza Italia.