Italian exit poll gives slight edge to center-right coalition
ROME — Italians braved long lines and confusing ballots to vote Sunday in one of the most uncertain elections in years — one that could determine if the country succumbs to the populist and far-right sentiment that has swept through Europe.
Some Italian polling stations faced ballot delivery problems, and all had timeconsuming anti-fraud measures in place that created bottlenecks at manystations.
An exit poll by RAI state TV found that a center-right coalition had a slight edge over an anti-establishment party, the 5-Star Movement.
The same poll found former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dueling for the center-right’s leadership with anti-migrant party leader Matteo Salvini; their respective Forza Italia and League parties were running nearly neck-and-neck.
Whichever party dominates the coalition would be better poised to make a bid for the premiership should the coalition muster enough support in Parliament to support a government.
But no party was taking enough seats to govern alone, the exit poll by the Piepoli polling agency found.
The exit poll put the center-right coalition, which includes a smaller far-right party, with 33 percent to 36 percent of the vote, compared with the 5-Star Movement’s 29.5 percent to 32.5 percent.
The center-left coalition that governs Italy and led by the Democratic Party was lagging at 24.5 percent to 27.5 percent, according to the exit poll. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
The first projections based on an initial vote count were expected early Monday.
The campaigning in Italy was marked by neo-fascist rhetoric and anti-migrant violence that culminated in a shooting spree last month that targeted African migrants and injured six.
With unemployment at 10.8 percent and economic growth in the eurozone’s third-largest economy lag- ging the average, many Italians have all but given up hope for change.
The populist 5- Star Movement hoped to capitalize on such disgust, particularly among Italy’s young. Some polls had indicated the grass-roots movement launched in 2009 would be the largest votegetter among any single party.
But the 5-Stars weren’t expected to win enough to govern on their own, and the group’s principle of not allying with any party could complicate dealmaking to form a new government if Salvini’s populist-leaning League ends up seeking a partner that’s not Berlusconi’s more moderate party.
Steve Bannon, right-wing populist architect of President Donald Trump’s White House campaign, was in Rome this weekend, cheering on the populists. “I think if they create a coalition among all the populists it would be fantastic, it would terrify Brussels and pierce it in its heart,” Bannon was quoted as saying in Sunday’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.