Historic election in Italy: Who's ahead in the polls?
1Historic election in Italy: Who's ahead in the polls?
People in Italy are preparing to go to the polls today for the general election. In the country with around 51 million voters, Italians will nominate the new members of Parliament.
In Italy, the people go to the polls today for the general election. In the election, in which 50.8 million people have the right to vote, Italians will determine the new members of the Senate of the Republic, the upper house of the 200-seat parliament, and the House of Representatives, the lower house of the 400-seat parliament.
VOTING WILL END AT 23.00
Voting in the elections will start at 07:00 local time today at 08:00 and will continue until 23:00 at night.
After the end of the voting process, the vote counting will begin.
The first unofficial results are expected after midnight, which tied Sunday to Monday, according to polling exit polls.
While the political parties that will compete in the elections completed the campaign period as of Friday, the country entered a period of "silence" that will last until the voting process is completed.
OPINION POLLS SIGN THE RIGHT ALLIANCE
According to the election law in the country, the last polls can be published 15 days before the election.
According to the latest polls released on September 9, the far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) led by Meloni ranks first.
Democratic Party (PD), the centre-left roof party led by Enrico Letta, is in the 2nd place, while the far-right League Party, led by Matteo Salvini, is in the 3rd place.
The anti-establishment 5 Star Movement (M5S), led by Giuseppe Conte, one of the former prime ministers, is in the 4th place.
Again from the centre-right, Forza Italia (FI), headed by one of the former prime ministers, Silvio Berlusconi, ranks 5th, and the Action Party (Az) led by Carlo Calenda, which positions itself in the center with the name "Third pole", ranks 6th.
If the elections turn out like this, the right-wing alliance consisting of the FdI led by Giorgia Meloni, the League Party led by Salvini and the FI led by Silvio Berlusconi and some smaller right parties is expected to come to power.
In this case, Meloni will become Italy's first female prime minister.
HE OPPOSED TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIP
In the past, the far-right leader had attracted attention with his anti-Islamic statements as well as Turkey's EU membership.
THE RATIO OF THE UNDETERMINATED 40 PERCENT
Meanwhile, it was noted that the rate of undecided voters was between 30 and 40 percent in the aforementioned opinion polls.
After the collapse of the broad-participation coalition government led by Mario Draghi on July 21, President Sergio Mattarella dissolved both houses of the parliament and moved the elections scheduled for 2023 to September 25.