Voting in the industrial city of about 62,000 residents has drawn national attention after the mayoral candidate of the right-wing League party included two Muslim candidates on his electoral list, a move that sparked controversy within the party and highlighted shifting demographic realities ahead of national elections next year.

Located in the Lombardy region amid factories and rice fields, Vigevano has a foreign-born population of roughly 15 percent, including large communities with roots in Egypt and Romania. The city also has a growing number of naturalized citizens and second-generation Italians whose political influence is becoming increasingly significant.

The League, led nationally by Matteo Salvini, currently governs the city. Salvini has advocated tough immigration policies and has argued that citizenship should be revoked from second-generation immigrants convicted of serious crimes. Against that backdrop, local mayoral candidate Riccardo Ghia drew attention by selecting two Muslim candidates in an effort to broaden the party’s appeal among immigrant-origin voters.

One of those candidates, Hagar Haggag, a 20-year-old Italian of Egyptian heritage, said she had faced threats and abuse since announcing her candidacy. She attributed much of the backlash to her decision to wear an Islamic headscarf.

Haggag said she had not experienced discrimination within the local League organization and noted that a previous League administration had permitted the opening of a Muslim prayer hall in a converted industrial building in 2022. She said her campaign was partly motivated by a desire to challenge stereotypes surrounding Muslim women and their participation in public life.

The second Muslim candidate, Ibrahim Hussein, serves as a spokesman for the local prayer hall and has described his candidacy as an example of successful integration. In public statements, he has argued that immigrants who respect Italian laws should be fully accepted within society.

Campaigning concluded on Friday with Ghia defending his decision, saying political participation should be based on respect for civic rules rather than religious identity.

The debate has revealed broader fractures within Italy’s governing coalition. While the national League leadership distanced itself from the Vigevano candidates, the ruling Giorgia Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, backed the local ticket. Coalition partner Forza Italia, generally regarded as more moderate on immigration issues, supported a separate mayoral slate.

The divisions have created an opening for Roberto Vannacci, a former League figure who recently launched the nationalist party Futuro Nazionale. During a campaign visit to Vigevano this month, Vannacci delivered a speech focused heavily on immigration and public security.

His local ally, lawyer Furio Suvilla, has campaigned on stricter security measures, including deploying the army to address public disorder around the city’s railway station and closing the Muslim prayer hall.
Political analysts say the contest reflects broader demographic and electoral shifts occurring across Italy.

According to sociologist Maurizio Ambrosini, candidates with immigrant backgrounds remain relatively uncommon in Italian politics compared with countries such as France and Germany, but several right-wing parties are increasingly seeking to attract voters and candidates from immigrant communities.

On the center-left, candidate Sabrine Hamrouni, whose father emigrated from Tunisia in the 1990s, said she hoped political fragmentation on the right would benefit her campaign.

Born and raised in Vigevano, she said questions of identity and belonging remain central for many residents with immigrant roots despite their long-standing ties to the city.

The election is being closely watched as an indicator of how Italy’s evolving social landscape may reshape political competition ahead of next year’s national vote.

Pauline Hanson is emerging as a central force in Australian politics nearly three decades after entering federal parliament, as growing economic anxiety, concerns over immigration and dissatisfaction with mainstream parties fuel renewed support for rightwing populism.

The resurgence of Hanson’s One Nation has intensified pressure on both the governing Labor Party and the opposition Liberal-National Coalition, with both major political blocs adjusting policy positions in response to shifting voter sentiment.

This month, One Nation secured its first federal lower house seat after defeating conservative candidates in the rural electorate of Farrer, a district long considered a stronghold of the Coalition. The result followed gains in South Australia’s state election earlier this year and marked a significant breakthrough for a party that for years struggled to convert national attention into sustained parliamentary representation.

Angus Taylor described the Farrer byelection outcome as an “existential moment” for the Coalition, which has faced internal instability and declining support since its defeat in the 2025 federal election.The rise of One Nation mirrors broader international trends in rightwing populism associated with figures such as Donald Trump in the United States and Nigel Farage in Britain.

Hanson’s messaging has focused heavily on immigration, opposition to climate policies and criticism of political institutions, themes that analysts say resonate with economically insecure and politically disillusioned voters.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, who defected from the National Party of Australia to One Nation last year, said voter frustration was being driven by fears of economic decline and a perceived lack of long-term national direction.

“There is a frustration, there is a malaise,” Joyce said. “People feel they are going to hand to their children a lesser nation than their parents handed to them.”Hanson first entered national politics in 1996 after being disendorsed as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia over controversial remarks about Indigenous Australians.

Running as an independent, she won the Queensland seat of Oxley and used her maiden parliamentary speech to attack multiculturalism and warn that Australia risked being “swamped by Asians.”Her rhetoric made her one of the country’s most polarizing political figures. In 1997, she co-founded One Nation, which rapidly gained traction, particularly in Queensland.

The party secured 11 seats at the 1998 Queensland state election, though Hanson herself later lost federal representation despite receiving the highest primary vote in her electorate under Australia’s preferential voting system.Hanson spent nearly two decades largely outside federal politics, a period that included failed campaigns, internal party disputes and a prison sentence for electoral fraud convictions that were later overturned on appeal.

She returned to the Senate in 2016 and remained a prominent figure through a series of controversial campaigns focused on immigration, Islam and national identity.Among the most widely criticized incidents was her appearance in the Senate chamber wearing a burqa in support of proposals to ban the garment, an act she repeated in 2025 and which resulted in a parliamentary suspension.

Despite persistent controversy, One Nation’s electoral support continued to grow. The party secured 6.4% of the national vote at the 2025 election, roughly doubling its previous result.Its momentum accelerated after a mass shooting at a Hanukkah gathering in Sydney’s Bondi area in December that killed 15 people. Authorities described the attack as allegedly inspired by the militant group Islamic State.

Hanson and Joyce attended memorial events for victims while simultaneously linking the incident to broader immigration and security debates.Polling conducted after the attack showed One Nation overtaking the Coalition in some voter surveys, particularly in working-class outer suburban areas where dissatisfaction with housing affordability and cost-of-living pressures has intensified.

The Coalition’s response has included a more aggressive stance on immigration and border policy following the appointment of new leadership after its 2025 defeat. Political observers say the party is increasingly attempting to reclaim conservative voters shifting toward Hanson.

At the same time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the governing Australian Labor Party have also adjusted policy positions amid concerns that economic insecurity is driving support for populist movements.

Labor this week abandoned an earlier election commitment not to alter tax concessions benefiting property investors, part of a broader housing affordability package intended to address rising public concern over home ownership access among younger Australians.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers framed the policy shift as a response to broader political and economic pressures reshaping democracies globally.“We’re doing what’s necessary, not what’s convenient, at a time of extraordinary, accelerating change in the world playing out in our economy and society,” Chalmers said.

“And when you look around the world, from Farage to Farrer the choice this moment presents for parties of government is clear.”Chalmers argued Labor remained “the sensible centre” of Australian politics while acknowledging that both major parties were under growing pressure to respond to rapidly changing voter expectations.

As One Nation expands beyond its traditional regional and protest-vote base, analysts say the party’s influence is now being measured not only by seats won, but by its ability to shape the national political agenda and force strategic recalibrations from Australia’s two dominant parties.

In the video which received 1M views, Almenhali said Emiratis, including himself, had recently been targeted by online attacks that framed nationality as an insult. He rejected the characterization of the exchanges as rivalry or banter, describing them instead as racist behavior that relied on reducing an entire nationality and culture to a derogatory label.

“This is not rivalry, this is racist,” Almenhali said in the recording. He added that using nationality as an insult amounted to discrimination regardless of intent, and said such language reflected prejudice rather than legitimate criticism.

The video, shared on his X account, was presented as a direct response to what he described as repeated online comments. Almenhali did not address governments or public institutions, focusing instead on individual online behavior.

Framing of India and historical references

Almenhali’s remarks included references to India’s historical role in global civilization. In the video, he cited contributions he attributed to India in areas such as mathematics, medicine, astronomy, trade and philosophy, and argued that these achievements undermined any attempt to use “Indian” as a pejorative term.

He also linked those historical references to the modern global economy, saying contemporary technologies and systems relied on foundations developed over centuries. His comments framed the use of nationality as an insult as historically inaccurate, according to his remarks.

UAE and expatriate partnership

Almenhali also addressed the role of Indian expatriates in the UAE, saying the country had built partnerships with skilled professionals rather than merely accommodating them. In the video, he referred to engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs and builders from India as contributors to national development, describing this approach as a deliberate policy choice.

“The UAE didn’t tolerate Indians, it partnered with them,” he said, characterising that relationship as one based on mutual benefit and capability rather than weakness. He added that attempts to demean people through racial language failed to account for this dynamic.

His remarks positioned multicultural cooperation as integral to the UAE’s development model and rejected narratives that portray diversity as a liability.

Online discourse and wider implications

Almenhali’s video circulated widely online, drawing responses from users across the region. The comments were confined to social media and did not prompt any official statements from authorities. No government response had been issued by the UAE or elsewhere at the time of publication.

Almenhali ended the video by urging viewers to recognize the difference between criticism and racism, and said that the use of racial slurs reflected on those employing them rather than on their intended targets.