Italy's far-right party, the Brothers of Italy (FDI), appears to be on course to become the largest party in the country's EU election, according to exit polls.
The party is expected to win somewhere between 25 and 31 per cent of the vote. This would represent a significant increase compared to the 2019 EU election, when Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's FDI only managed to win 6 per cent.
The Democratic Party is expected to come second, with between 21.5 and 25.5 per cent of the vote, followed by the Five Star Movement with between 10 and 14 per cent, according to the BBC.
The nationalist League is expected to take a significant hit, and is expected to win between 7.5 and 9.5 per cent of the vote. In the 2019 EU election, the party won 34 per cent and was one of the largest single parties in the entire parliament.
If the result stands, the big question will be what Meloni will do with her increased power in Brussels.
Many in the conservative EPP group see her as a good partner and point to Italy's engagement with both Ukraine and cohesion behind migration policy.
Even French Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Rally (RN) has expressed interest in working with Meloni.
The Brothers of Italy are part of the EU-sceptical conservative ECR group. RN is part of the EU-critical extreme right ID group.
When the polling stations closed in Italy at 23:00, the official end of the EU election.
Italy will appoint 76 of the EU parliament's 720 members.
This is how the opinion poll looks like before the EU election in Italy (with current number of seats and party group affiliation in the EU):
Italy's Brothers (10, EU-sceptical ECR): 26.5 per cent
Democratic Party (14, social-democratic S&D): 22.5 per cent
Five Star Movement (5, non-attached): 15.4 per cent
Forza Italia (10, conservative EPP): 9.2 per cent
League (22, EU-critical ID): 8.6 per cent
Green Left (1, non-attached): 4.6 per cent
European United States (1, liberal RE): 4.1 per cent
Act – We are Europeans (2, liberal RE): 3.6 per cent
Footnote: Several members elected in the last election in 2019 have since changed or left their parties.
Source: Ipsos opinion poll institute.
