ROME—A right-wing alliance led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party looks set to win a clear majority in the next parliament, exit polls said on Sept. 25 after voting ended in an Italian national election.
Meloni, as leader of the largest coalition party, was also likely to become Italy’s first female prime minister.
An exit poll for state broadcaster RAI said the bloc of conservative parties, that also includes Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, won between 41 percent and 45 percent, enough to guarantee control of both houses of parliament.
“Center-right clearly ahead both in the lower house and the Senate! It’ll be a long night but even now I want to say thanks,” Salvini said on Twitter.
Italy’s electoral law favors groups that manage to create pre-ballot pacts, giving them an outsized number of seats by comparison with their vote tally.
RAI said the right-wing alliance would win between 227 and 257 of the 400 seats in the lower house of parliament, and 111–131 of the 200 Senate seats.
Full results are expected by early Monday.
The result caps a remarkable rise for Meloni, whose party won only 4 percent of the vote in the last national election in 2018, but this time around was forecast to emerge as Italy’s largest group on around 22–26 percent.
Meloni, 45, has pledged to support Western policy on Ukraine and not take undue risks with the third largest economy in the euro zone.
Italy has a history of political instability and the next prime minister will lead the country’s 68th government since 1946 and face a host of problems, notably soaring energy costs and growing economic headwinds.
Italy’s first autumn national election in over a century was triggered by party infighting that brought down Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s broad national unity government in July.
The new, slimmed-down parliament will not meet until Oct. 13, at which point the head of state will summon party leaders and decide on the shape of the new government.