The Italian right-wing bloc won 41 to 45 percent of the votes in the parliamentary elections, which will be enough for them to form a parliamentary majority.
This was shown by the exit polls of the state television RAI, published after the polls closed at 23 p.m., Reuters reports.
Đorđija Meloni leads the far-right party Brothers of Italy.
As the leader of the largest party in the winning coalition, she is the obvious choice to become Italy's first female prime minister.
A TV Mediaset exit poll showed Meloni's party winning 22,5 to 25,6 percent, Matteo Salvini's League party 8,5 to 12,5 percent, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forward Italy, which is also a member of the right-wing coalition, 5 to 9 percent. XNUMX to XNUMX percent of the vote.
According to the exit poll, the center-left coalition led by the Democratic Party won 25,5 to 29,5 percent of the vote, the populist Five Star Movement 13,5 to 17,5 percent of the vote. The centrist pro-European Action, according to exit polls, can count on 6,5 to 8,5 percent of the vote.
Parliamentary changes reduced the size of both houses by a third - the House of Representatives will now have 400 seats, while the Senate will have 200.
According to RAI television projections, the right-wing alliance will win between 227 and 257 out of 400 seats in the lower house of parliament and 111 to 131 out of 200 seats in the Senate.
The Brothers of Italy will be the strongest single political force in Italy, and in the last parliamentary elections in the spring of 2018, they had 4,35 percent of support.
Italy's first autumn national election in more than a century was triggered by party infighting that toppled the broad national unity government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi in July.
Italy has a history of political instability and the next prime minister will lead the country's 68th government since 1946 and will face a host of challenges, particularly rising energy costs and mounting economic obstacles.
The outcome of the vote, reports Reuters, is also being watched nervously in European capitals and financial markets, given the desire to preserve unity in relations with Russia and concerns over Italy's frighteningly high public debt.
The new reduced parliament will meet on October 13.
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