Alessandra Mussolini resigned Thursday from the party that descended from the Fascist regime of her grandfather, Benito Mussolini.

Alessandra Mussolini, a 33-year-old Parliament deputy for the right-wing National Alliance, said at a news conference that differences with party leader Gianfranco Fini led to her resignation and she will continue as an independent.

She felt Fini had not given her a prominent enough role when he reorganized the party leadership and was angry that he had not repudiated newspaper articles suggesting she had been sidelined.