Italy Elections: Center-Right Coalition Projected to Dominate
Local Editor
The center-right coalition is leading in Italy's general election, winning 37.42% of votes in the upper chamber of the parliament - the Senate - after 65% of ballots were counted, the Italian Interior Ministry said Monday.
The center-right coalition consists of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, far-right Matteo Salvini's Lega [formerly Lega Nord], right-wing Brothers of Italy, and the small party Us with Italy.
According to the ministry's data, Lega won 18.3%, while Forza Italia received 14.2%.
Meanwhile, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement [M5S] has won 30.97% of votes in the upper house - the best result achieved by a separate party so far.
Meanwhile, Italy's far-right anti-immigrant Lega party [formerly Lega Nord], run by Matteo Salvini, is satisfied with the general election results' projections, Giancarlo Giorgetti, vice-secretary of Lega, told reporters on Monday.
"This is a great satisfaction for Lega and for Salvini. These are historic results. We started at 4%. Now we are projected to get 16-17%, maybe more. Certainly, we will talk to our allies now. We already have ideas what to do, and we look into future calmly," he said.
According to the opinion polls shown by the Rainews 24 broadcaster, Lega is projected to get 12.5 - 15.5% in the Chamber of Deputies, and 13 -16% in the Senate. These numbers are exactly the same as the projections for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia for both chambers.
The turnout at the Italian general elections amounts to 73.03% as of 11 p.m. local time when polling stations were closed, the country's Interior Ministry said.
The Sunday vote is the first test of a new voting system in Italy - a mixture between first-past-the-post and proportional representation, and is believed to be one of the most unpredictable the country has ever had.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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