The granddaughter of Italy's wartime dictator Benito Mussolini said she was leaving Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party because it was too right wing, after recently taking issue with its stance on minority rights.
Rachele Mussolini, a city councillor in Rome who won the most votes of any candidate at the last council elections in the city in 2021, said she was moving to the group of the more centrist Forza Italia at City Hall.
"It is time to turn the page and join a party that I feel is closer to my moderate and centrist sensibilities," Ms Mussolini told ANSA news agency, confirming earlier newspaper reports.
Brothers of Italy traces its roots to the Italian Social Movement (MSI), an heir to Benito Mussolini's fascists set up after World War II.
Since taking office in 2022, Ms Meloni has tried to present the party as a mainstream conservative group.
Critics say the attempt is mainly window dressing, pointing to the party's tough stances on immigration, abortion and same-sex parenting, and its moves to tighten penalties for surrogate motherhood.
Forza Italia - part of Ms Meloni's ruling coalition - also presents itself as a party defending traditional Christian values, but is seen as more liberal on civil rights.
A political source told Reuters that rights issues played a key role in Ms Mussolini's decision to switch parties.
Last month she took issue with Ms Meloni in a dispute over the gender of Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer who fought against Italian Angela Carini at the Olympic games.
After Carini gave up during her bout against Khelif - who later won the gold medal - Ms Meloni said it had not been a match between equals because the Algerian had failed a gender eligibility test at the World Championships last year.
"Until proven otherwise Imane Khelif is a woman. And she has suffered an unworthy witch hunt," Ms Mussolini said.
