ROME (AP) — Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s electoral alliance appeared to hold a wide lead in Italy’s national vote, an exit poll on state television suggested Sunday evening following a record-low turnout.
Rai state broadcaster said Meloni’s Brothers of Italy in alliance with two right-wing parties appeared headed to take 45% of the vote in both chambers of Parliament. The closest contender appeared to be the center-left alliance of former Democratic Party Premier Enrico Letta, which the exit poll indicated garnered as much as 29.5%. Rai said the poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Meloni, 45, would be well-positioned to become Italy’s first far-right premier since the end of World War II and the first woman in the country to hold that office. Her party, with neo-fascist roots, would need to form a coalition with her main allies, anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini and conservative former Premier Silvio Berlusconi to command a solid majority in Parliament.
Meloni’s meteoric rise in the European Union’s third-largest economy comes at a critical time, as much of the continent reels under soaring energy bills, a repercussion of the war in Ukraine, and the West’s resolve to stand united against Russian aggression is being tested.
The same exit poll indicated Meloni’s party appeared to have won from 22-26% of the votes, while Letta’s center-left Democrats appeared headed to take from 17-21%.