The legislative election in the Reggio di Calabria constituency in southern Italy saw Fabio Roscioli, the candidate from the Forza Italia party, leading with 54% of the votes based on the ballots from 263 polling stations counted (out of 487). The center-left candidate, Francesco Benedetto, came in second with 36%, ahead of Domenico Giannetta, the candidate of Futuro Nazionale, the party of General Roberto Vannacci, who received 9%. This election was held to fill the vacancy left by Francesco Cannizzaro, a Forza Italia MP who became mayor of the city. The voter turnout was at 22.34%, a significant decline compared to the 49.4% turnout in the 2022 election. This is the first election in which Futuro Nazionale, the party founded by General Roberto Vannacci following his departure from the League on February 3, is participating. The score in Calabria and the leading position of the Forza Italia candidate should strengthen the head of government and the coalition, while the positioning of Futuro Nazionale risks destabilizing the balance of the so-called right-wing coalition on a national level. Its progress is indeed made at the expense of the League, and for the first time Giorgia Meloni must face opposition coming from her right. Domenico Giannetta, the candidate of Futuro Nazionale, previously presided over the Forza Italia group in the Calabrian Regional Council. He joined General Vannacci when his party preferred Fabio Roscioli, a Roman lawyer close to the Berlusconi family. The campaign of Futuro Nazionale was marked by the codes of boomer populism. On Saturday, 26, the day before the start of the vote, Vannacci posted on his Facebook account an image generated by artificial intelligence in which the undersecretary of state Matilde Siracusano (Forza Italia) was shown with a particularly pronounced neckline. Political leaders from all sides condemned the publication. Vannacci had also stated: "We will do as the far right does in Saxony." The program of Futuro Nazionale advocates a reactionary stance, economic sovereignty that would be achieved through a parallel currency, and a constitutional revision to "the primacy of the principles of the Italian Constitution over all European treaties." The text mixes heterogeneous references, from Pasolini to Chesterton, and repeatedly uses Mussolini's formulas.