Luigi Galeante (1979-) was Prime Minister of Italy from 2034 (succeeding Francesco Crespino). He presided over a government which attempted to abolish both taxes and social programs in an attempt to restore popular confidence in a government which had lost credibility due to unpopular austerity measures amid an economic crisis. However, his programme was often defeated by the M5S majority, and he narrowly lost re-election to Liliana Schiavo later in 2034. In 2035, after Schiavo adopted similar austerity measures to circumvent opposition from the Chamber's right-wing, Galeante took advantage of far-left discontent to win re-election, defeating Schiavo again.
Biography[]
Luigi Galeante was born in Genoa, Liguria, Italy in 1979, and he was a social worker for several decades before becoming involved in politics with the Italian Left. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2019 after Giovanna Gianmarco retired, and he later rose to be party leader. He was largely unknown before the 2034 general election, where his party rose to be the second-largest party in the country behind M5S with 20.04% and 6 seats to M5S' 28.49% and 8 seats. In the ensuing leadership contest, Galeante narrowly defeated M5S leader Liliana Schiavo in a 50.5%-49.5% result, and he was elected Prime Minister.
Premiership[]
Just weeks after taking office, Galeante backed the Chamber in voting 13-9 to abolish the country's national parks to reduce government expenditure. However, his party was alone in supporting an air pollution monitor, which was defeated 19-5. A popular referendum on European Union membership passed with 69.5%, and the Italian Left suffered from another defeat when they failed to abolish the housing tax in an 8-14 vote. The government succeeded in defeating a luxury tax in a close 11-10 vote, but its attempt to stop the reimplementation of an organ donor program failed in a 13-12 vote. In the late 2034 general election, M5S again lost support, dropping to 27% and 8 seats, followed by a rise in SI support to 20.45% and 6 seats; the PD rose to 19.75% and 6 seats, the LN dropped to 18.64% and 6 seats, and FI dropped to 14.16% and 4 seats. The ensuing presidential election saw Galeante narrowly lose re-election to M5S leader Liliana Schiavo, who defeated Galeante with 50.9% to his 49.1%. Galeante was out of power for just 25 weeks, during which time Schiavo - whose ambitions of raising taxes and salvaging existing programs were dashed - was ultimately forced to adopt unpopular austerity measures to hasten the country's return to a positive budget. While Schiavo succeeded in doing so, her austerity measures (such as abolishing agriculture research and the food control agency) proved to generate the same anti-establishment rancor that Francesco Crespino's policies had, leading to Galeante defeating Schiavo in the 2035 general election 55.5% to 44.5%.