Now he seems content performing populist party tricks rather than stretching and reinventing the form like the legions of imitators he has spawned.

Vox, a rightwing populist party, played the legion's anthem at a rally last year and was told to stop.

Its convincing win, after a campaign largely fair and free, gives the populist party, identified by its supporters' red shirts, the chance to form a government on its own.

When a populist party wins power, it sooner or later becomes the establishment.

He wants to create a large populist party that would one day rule the world, with himself as the leader.