A rival pair of populist and stridently anti-European Union political forces surged in Italy's parliamentary election at the expense of the country's traditional political powers, but neither gained enough support to govern alone, preliminary results showed today.
With no faction winning a clear majority and a hung Parliament expected, the results confirmed that negotiations to form a new government that can win a confidence vote will be long and fraught.
Financial markets opened lower and were volatile in early trading Monday.
"Ungovernable Italy" headlined daily newspaper La Stampa as the early numbers rolled in.
Preliminary results released by Italy's interior ministry showed the center-right coalition winning about 37 per cent of the parliamentary vote and the 5-Star Movement getting about 32 percent, with the center-left coalition far behind with 23 percent.
In an upset, the results showed the right-wing, anti-immigrant and euroskeptic League party of Matteo Salvini surpassing the longtime anchor of the center-right, the Forza Italia party of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi. According to the partial results, the League captured around 18 percent of the vote, while Forza Italia had less than 14 percent.
With the anti-establishment 5-Stars the highest vote-getter of any single party, the results confirmed the defeat of the two main political forces that have dominated Italian politics for decades - Forza Italia and the center-left Democrats - and the surging of populist and right-wing, euroskeptic forces that have burst onto the European scene.
"The European Union is having a bad evening," French far-right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted. British far-right, pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage also congratulated the 5-Stars.
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