© Reuters A person holding a ballot enters a polling station during a snap election in Rome, Italy, September 25, 2022. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov
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By Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) – A right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Italian Brothers party was on course for a clear majority in the next parliament, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War II.
Meloni, as leader of the giant coalition party, is likely to become Italy’s first female prime minister.
Meloni, 45, plays up the party’s post-fascist roots and describes it as a core conservative group. She has pledged to support Western policy on Ukraine and has vowed not to take unnecessary risks in the eurozone’s third-largest economy.
However, the results are ringing alarm bells in European capitals and financial markets, with concerns about Russia’s desire to confront it and Italy’s daunting debt mountain.
In exit polls for state broadcaster RAI, a cluster of conservative parties including Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party won between 41% and 45%, enough to control both houses of parliament.
“The center-right is clearly ahead both in the Lower House and in the Senate! It will be a long night but even now I want to say thank you,” Salvini said on Twitter (NYSE: ).
Italy’s electoral law favors groups that can form pre-election pacts that give them more seats in proportion to their number of votes.
According to RAI, the right-wing coalition will win between 227 and 257 of the 400 lower house seats and 111-131 of the 200 senate seats.
Full results are expected by early Monday.
Record a low score
The result represents an impressive improvement for Meloni, whose party won only 4% in the last national election in 2018, but is expected to emerge as Italy’s largest group this time around 22-26%.
But there was no call for support, with only 64.1% voting four years ago, compared to 74% four years ago. This is a record for the country with the highest voter turnout in history.
Although severe storms in the south appeared to have prevented many from voting there, turnout fell in northern and central cities where the weather was calmer.
Italy has a history of political instability, and the next prime minister will lead the country’s 68th government since 1946, and will face many challenges, particularly rising energy costs and rising economic headwinds.
The initial market reaction was likely to be muted as polls accurately predicted the outcome.
“I don’t expect a big impact, although Italian assets will do particularly well tomorrow (Monday), considering how the market is starting to treat Europe and the worrisome public finances and the countries that are vulnerable to the crisis and Ukraine. ” Fund manager at Antilia in Milan And strategist Giuseppe Sersale said.
Italy’s first autumn national election in more than a century was triggered by a party tussle that toppled Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s broad national unity government in July.
The new, thinner parliament will not convene until October 13, when the head of government will convene party leaders to decide the shape of the new government.