Italy's General Elections: Towards a Hung Parliament

Ballots continue to be counted after yesterday’s general election in Italy. So far, projections based on the official results make it clear what last week’s polls had already predicted: for both chambers, there is no outright winner, so the country may be headed for a hung Parliament.Both the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement led by 31-year- old Luigi Di Maio and the far right League led by Matteo Salvini have performed far beyond expectations, with the first gaining more than 30 percent of the vote, thus emerging as the largest party by far, and the League emerging as the third largest party and most popular force within the center-right coalition, with almost 18 percent of the vote. Combined, the center-right coalition is expected to receive 37 percent of the vote.Equally unexpected was the poor performance (around 22 percent of the vote) by the Democratic Party led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, something which clearly reflects voters’ discontent with the way the previous government managed the economic slowdown and growing unemployment rate. According to media reports, Matteo Renzi will resign as leader of the party by the end of the day.

As the infographic below significantly shows, the elections have split Italy in three parts, with the 5-Star Movement (yellow) leading in the South, the Democratic Party (red) in some of Italy’s central regions and the center-right coalition (blue) in the North.

There are many possible scenarios for how a government majority will be shaped. On March 23, the new Parliament will meet for the first time to elect the Presidents of both chambers.