Fractured vote in Italy leaves open many possible alliances
With 75% of the votes counted, none of the three main factions can form government alone
ROME: A surge for populist and far-right parties in Italy’s election could result in a hung parliament with a right-wing alliance likely to win the most votes but no majority after a campaign dominated by anger against immigration.
The projections based on early results on Monday also showed the far-right League party ahead of media mogul Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) party within the right-wing coalition in Sunday’s vote.
That raises the prospect of League leader Matteo Salvini, who has promised to shut down Roma camps, deport hundreds of thousands of migrants and tackle the “danger” of Islam, becoming Italy’s next prime minister.
The eurosceptic, anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which has drawn support from Italians fed up with traditional parties and a lack of economic opportunity, was predicted to come second to the coalition.
The boost for far-right and populist parties has drawn comparisons to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the rise of US President Donald Trump.
“The European Union is going to have a bad night,” Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s National Front, tweeted.
Resentment at the hundreds of thousands of migrant arrivals in Italy in recent years fired up the campaign, along with frustration about social inequalities.
The ruling centre-left Democratic Party, which has struggled to get across its pro-european message of gradual economic recovery, was left trailing.
“This is a very clear defeat for us,” Michele Martina, a minister in the outgoing government, told reporters.
The projections by public broadcaster Rai showed the right-wing alliance winning 35.5% of the vote, with the Five Star Movement at 32.5% and the centre-left at 23.1%.
If no party or coalition wins an overall majority, the projected results leave Italy with few options.
One is a an “anti-system” postelection pact between the Five Star Movement and the League -a prospect that has spooked foreign investors and European capitals. The other would be a minority Five Star government, which could prove highly unstable. A third option would be a temporary government and new poll.
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon -- the man who helped Trump ride a populist wave to power -- characterised the election as “pure populism”.
“The Italian people have gone farther, in a shorter period of time, than the British did for Brexit and the Americans did for Trump,” Bannon, who was visiting Italy for the election, told the New York Times.