ITALY’S POLITICS IN CHAOS

The election means the end of the centre-Left coalition government led by the Democratic Party, which suffered a catastrophic collapse in its vote.

The biggest bloc is now the Right-wing alliance headed by the anti-EU and anti-immigrant League, which, with Fratelli d’Italia, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and some others, commands 37 per cent of vote.

But the single biggest party is the populist and anti-Establishment Five Star Movement, which claims it has the greatest right to govern.

The League has rejected the idea of a ‘minestrone’ coalition with Five Star, but collectively they would have a majority – and present a headache of Brexit-sized proportions to the EU.