Between the League and the 5-Stars, the results showed that the two parties with the most eurosceptic platforms together topped the 50% needed to rule Italy.
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“The Five Star’s new mantra should be that it is impossible and unlawful [to form] any majority without us”, said Jacopo Iacoboni, a leading political analyst with La Stampa newspaper. The EU Commission’s spokesperson also expressed confidence for the formation of a “stable government” in Italy.
Following the victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential elections past year; the re-election of Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany; and the defeat, or at least containment, of far right elements in contests in Austria and the Netherlands, there was an easy assumption that the tide had turned against populist, anti-immigrant, anti-EU forces.
“While some were doing anti-fascist marches in the absence of fascists, we were preparing the future”, Mr Salvini said. Investors dumped Italian government bonds on Monday and the euro was under pressure, while the Milan bourse dipped 0.5 per cent. He repeated his belief that joining the common euro currency was a mistake for Italy, but said financial markets should not fear his party’s leadership.
He said he knew many other young people who, fed up with high youth unemployment, had chose to support the M5S. “It’s a very strong message”, Borghi told Italy’s Sky TG24 television.
However despite the big gains enjoyed by the far right, polls indicate that the likeliest result is a stalemate between the M5S, Berlusconi’s coalition and the centre-left grouping led by the ruling Democratic Party (PD).
Standing between them and a role in government is the Five Star Movement, a group of anti-establishment political neophytes, which inspires little confidence with its capricious, on-the-hoof economic policy making.
Although both Di Maio and League leader Matteo Salvini ruled out an alliance during the campaign, the stance could change once the results are in. “That’s why we feel the responsibility to give Italy a government”.
League leader Matteo Salvini said irregular migrants would be rounded up and sent home “in 15 minutes” if he and his allies take power.
In a stinging defeat for Berlusconi, the anti-immigrant League party headed by Matteo Salvini emerged as the strongest movement within the coalition, taking nearly 18 percent of the vote compared to Berlusconi’s 14 percent.
“N. O. No, underlined three times”, Salvini told reporters.
No party “won” the election outright and none will be able govern.
Resentment at the hundreds of thousands of migrant arrivals in Italy in recent years fired up the campaign, along with frustration about social inequalities.
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement had 32.5 per cent.
Jane Foley, head of foreign exchange strategy at Rabobank International, said Monday “there are clear negative implications for the eurozone from the election result”.
“We won’t have a government any time soon”, Antonio Risconi, a resident of Milan, said as ballot counting continued.
“It’s a total defeat”, Renzi said.
Rome: Italians are voting on Sunday after a campaign that featured the surprise comeback of media magnate and former premier Silvio Berlusconi and a challenge to mainstream parties by the populist Five Star Movement. “I said you stink”, said one. “Be advised that we will be in the opposition. that’s where Italian citizens asked us to be”. “The Five Star Movement will be the pillar of the next legislature”. This would mean a focus on shared ideas such as euroskeptism and a pro-Kremlin outlook while putting to one side differences on migration.
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In the end, “the good news out of Germany yesterday – the SPD’s approval of the coalition treaty” may well end up being the most consequential, said Loredana Federico, chief Italian economist at Unicredit, in a note to clients.
