Major success of anti-establishment and the right-wing parties in Italy

The two anti-establishment parties have the best results in Italy’s elections. The Eurosceptic Five Star Movement was the biggest single party with a third of the vote. But the right-wing League as a part of right-wing alliance, which also includes the right Brothers of Italy, is tipped to get 248-268 seats. Both of these parties did well because they concentrated over problems of institutional corruption, economic hardship and illegal immigration. As a reminder, more than 600,000 migrants have travelled just from Libya to reach Italy since 2013, which has upset many Italians. Though no party will be able to rule alone based on latest results, the surge of support for populist parties has been compared with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in the US.

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has resigned as leader of the governing centre-left Democratic Party, which performed poorly, taking less than 20% of the vote. He said the party would not join a coalition with “anti-system forces” and would go into opposition instead.

Results showed that the League conquered broad swathes of Italy’s north, while Five Star saw its strongest show of support in the south.