ASSAGO, Italy – Italy’s scandal-plagued Northern League, the biggest opposition party against prime minister Mario Monti’s technocrat government, appointed former interior minister Roberto Maroni as leader on Sunday to take it into elections next year.
Mr Maroni, who steered anti-immigration measures into law as a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right cabinet, must now restore the image of the party hit by a corruption inquiry that forced founder Umberto Bossi to step down three months ago.
Rising to prominence after the “Bribesville” scandals in the 1990s destroyed the old political order, the League’s self-made image as a party untainted by political greed was shredded when a judicial inquiry showed taxpayers’ money had been used to buy perks for Bossi, his family members and his close aides.
With general elections less than a year away, backers hope Mr Maroni can take full advantage of the growing discontent with the austerity drive of Mr Monti’s unelected government.
“Tonight, instead of watching the soccer final, I will start working for the party,” Mr Maroni said of the Euro 2012 final in which Italy faced Spain, after being acclaimed party leader in front of about 8,000 League members gathered near Milan.
“We have gone through some difficult moments and it will not be easy to win back the support of those who are no more voting for us because they say we are like every other party.”
The League wants prosperous northern Italy to free itself from what it sees as the corrupt and inefficient south. – (Reuters)