Italy looks to be headed for a hung Parliament after Sunday’s general election vote failed to secure a majority victor.
With a grand coalition now on the table, the race to Government is being fought by Silvio Berlusconi’s Centre-right bloc and Luigi Di Maio’s Five Star Movement (M5S).
According to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, at 8.32am UK time, the four parties of the Centre-right pulled in a collective 37.07 percent of the vote.
The M5S fared much better, singlehandedly pulling in 32.11 percent, thus becoming the largest party to enter Parliament.
In the wake of the results, a M5S official said: “One of our strengths was the ability to create a dense network on social media.
“We have a lot of different personalities within the movement whose posts have been shared again and again. We are truly able to interact with our supporters.”
The biggest defeat came to former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (Partito Democratico PD), which had been in power for five years prior.
Standing at the helm of the five party strong Centre-left, the bloc only scored 23.26 percent, with the PD securing 18.98 percent of that.
When are the Italian election 2018 results announced?
None of the three blocs (Centre-right, Centre-left, 5 Star Movement) will be able to secure a majority
The full results are expected to be announced sometime after 2pm today local time (1pm GMT).
But the preliminary results revealed this morning by the Ministry of the Interior should be reliable enough to paint of picture of where the final results are headed.
At 8.18am GMT only one of Italy’s 28 electoral constituencies has completed counting the ballot – Valle D’Aosta.
The constituencies are expected to next update their ballot count by 9.20am local time.
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Italiane election results: The race is between the Five Stat Movement and Centre-right
Who will win the election today?
Under Italy’s new electoral laws, if no party or coalition secures a majority vote, it is up to President Sergio Mattarella to handpick a party or block to form a new Government.
It will take weeks before this happens, during which the President will hear from the parties and will consult his decision with aides and lawmakers.
According to Italian columnist Ferdinando Giugliano, three “grand coalition” options are now on the table.
The first is a Centre-right coalition with some support directed from the Centre-left.
AFP
The Italian election 2018 results will be announced sometime around 2pm local time (1pm GMT)
Alternatively the M5S could attempt to grasp onto power with help from the Centre-left, although Mr Renzi previously denounced all talk of a coalition with the M5S.
Finally the M5S could attempt to hold onto power with the League which has so far won 17.93 percent of the vote.
Mr Giugliano said: “Let’s start with the electoral arithmetics. It’s ugly.
“None of the three blocs (Centre-right, Centre-left, 5 Star Movement) will be able to secure a majority.
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Italian Election 2018 results: The Democratic Party failed to secure its needed victory
“We will need some form of grand coalition, which, in a way is what we always expected.”
The new Government is scheduled to host its first Parliamentary session on March 23 when new speakers of the Lower House and the Senate are voted in.
Once President Mattarella is confident in his decision, he will present the party or coalition to Parliament to stand the test of confidence vote.