Italy: Granddaughter of Benito Mussolini secures second term as city councillor in Rome

Rachele Mussolini, the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, has won the second term as a city councillor in Rome on Wednesday, Newsweek reported. According to the official figures released on Wednesday, Rachele secured the maximum votes and won the elections by 8,200 votes. Notably, the elections were held on October 3 and 4 across Italy. According to the report of Newsweek, around 1,200 municipalities across Italy including, the four largest cities, Rome, Naples, Turin and Milan, were voted for their councillors. The report said that Rachele had secured only 657 votes in the 2016 election. 

It is worth noting that Rachele Mussolini, granddaughter of the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini and the daughter of jazz pianist Romano Mussolini. Her grandmother ruled  Italy from 1922 to 1943 using a series of power-grabbing moves and the use of secret police. Despite having a strong family background, Rachele asserted that she does not want to be identified simply for her grandfather's actions. Rachele said she has many left-wing friends. Meanwhile, after winning the election with such a huge majority, Mussolini, in an interview with the newspaper La Repubblica, said that this time the people of Rome has voted due to her "initiatives" taken during her service at the City Council. Earlier, people had voted on her "surname", added Mussolini.

'People voted me on the basis of my work, not the surname': Rachele Mussolini

"In the past, I got interviewed only because of my family name. During my last term, they started asking about the initiatives I promoted on the city council. I have worked hard," Rachele Mussolini, told Wednesday's edition of the daily newspaper la Repubblica. "I learned to live with my surname since I was a child," she added. "At school, they used to aim at me, but then Rachele emerged and, the person (that I am) prevailed over the surname, however burdensome that name is," Newsweek quoted La Repubblica's interview with Mussolini. However, when the Italian daily asked about her take on fascism, she was reportedly reluctant to answer and just changed the topic by saying "she was against its glorification."

Image: Instagram/Rachele Mussolini