Both Mr Salvini and Mr Di Maio are laying claim to being Italy’s next prime minister after an inconclusive election result relegated mainstream parties in favour of splinter anti-establishment movements.
Exit polls show Mr Di Maio’s M5S emerging as the largest single party, with 32 percent of the votes.
But Mr Salvini’s Lega leads a centre-right coalition formed of four parties, currently taking 37.01 percent of votes.
The League has overtaken former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italy (Go Italy!) party as the largest in the coalition.
And as Mr Salvini is refusing to align with M5S, the country now faces political statement.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
Will Matteo Salvini or Luigi Di Maio be next prime minister?
Speaking at a press conference this morning, eurosceptic leader Mr Salvini pressed for his anti-immigrant League to rule and break free of EU restrictions after it topped the centre-right bloc with the most votes.
He said: “With the Italian vote, European people have taken a step forward towards freedom from Brussels’ cages and constraints that have brought hunger, precariousness and insecurity to Europe.
“The Italian vote will give us the chance to rebuild a Europe founded on men and women and not on constraints, bureaucracy and choices made speculators on the back of other people.
“They won’t fool us anymore. In Italy, Italians will decide from now on.
“Not Berlin, not Paris, not Brussels.”
He said his party, which won 17.41 percent of the vote, would talk to other parties but would not take part in a “minestrone” soup coalition, referencing a broad coalition government.
Speaking today, Salvini said the centre-right coalition has won and will govern – but he went on to say that Lega is now the leader of the group.
He added: “I am and will remain proudly populist.”
Just moments afterwards, Mr Di Maio said he would be willing to speak to other parties and moved to reassure the economic markets of the chaotic results.
In a statement he said: ”We’re open to talk to all the political forces.
”We feel the responsibility to give Italy a government (as)… a political force that represents the entire nation.”
Earlier today, a M5S official said forming a coalition without it would be impossible as the party has become Italy’s biggest party.
Whether that means Mr Di Maio would automatically be made prime minister is more of an unknown.
The full votes are expected later on today but formal coalition talks, chaired by President Sergio Mattarella, are not expected to open until early April.
That means the appointment of Italy’s next prime minister could remain unknown for some weeks.
Rome resident Giuseppe Bruni said: “It’s what we expected, political deadlock. A government is needed.
“We are in the hands of the president and the willingness of political parties to put a government together.”