Italy’s right-wing bloc looks set to win a majority, after the first exit polls were released.
They signal a clear victory for Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy coalition.
The polls show the far-right group securing between 41-45 per cent of the total vote. This leaves the major left party with just 25-29 per cent.
If confirmed, the results will give Meloni’s Brothers of Italy a majority in both houses.
At this stage, it is important to note Italian exit polls are often wrong. Many analysts remain hesitant to call the final result.
The election has been closely monitored in Europe and around the world. Italians are deciding on whether to choose their nation’s most right-winged government since World War II.
Italy went to the polls after Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s national unity government was brought down by infighting in July.
Polls have consistently shown the country’s right-wing bloc will win a majority in both houses of parliament.
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the nationalist Brothers of Italy, is seen as frontrunner. If successful, she will be the nation’s first female prime minister.
The former far-right activist from Rome has energised her party, which is set to see its share of the vote leap to around 25 per cent from only 4 per cent at the last election in 2018.
Her party is widely expected to emerge as Italy’s largest single party at Sunday’s vote. It will lead an alliance of right-wing parties to a comfortable victory.
The conservative bloc also includes the League party, led by Matteo Salvini, and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
Salvini is the abrasive former interior minister, who takes a hard line on immigration.
In recent months, he has been eclipsed by Meloni
Berlusconi, who will turn 86 four days after the election, has shrugged off old age, ill-health, sex scandals and a criminal conviction.
The four-times prime minister is battling for a central role after the vote. Even if his party is the junior partner now among its three main parties.
Italy’s electoral system favours groups able to form broad alliances, likely amplifying the right-wing bloc’s victory.
The right has also been helped by divisions in the centre-left.
There, attempts to form a broad electoral alliance by the main Democratic Party fell apart.
That leaves three main groups fighting for votes – the PD and its allies, the centrist Azione party and its Italia Viva partner, and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
Led by Giuseppe Conte, the 5-start Movement withdrew support for Draghi’s government in July, sparking divisions that led to this early election.
His strategy has in part been vindicated by an improvement in 5-Star’s poll standings, but the party still faces a spell in opposition.
And what are the main issues for voters?
As in other European countries, the cost of living crisis has overshadowed other concerns such as immigration, crime and public services.
The conservative alliance has called for tax cuts across the board to help Italians cope with rising prices.
The Democratic Party wants tax reductions to be more targeted towards lower income groups.
Meloni has repeatedly voiced her support for Western policy against Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
But League leader Matteo Salvini has called for the European Union to shield Italians from the economic side-effects of sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion.
