A FAR-RIGHT party has won the most votes in the Italian general election, near-final results showed yesterday, setting the stage for talks on the formation of a new government led by Giorgia Meloni, who would be Italy’s first female premier.

According to the published results, a right-wing coalition picked up 44 per cent of the parliamentary vote, with Ms Meloni’s Brothers of Italy taking 26 per cent, its biggest win in a decade-long meteoric rise.

Her coalition partners divided up the remainder, with the anti-immigrant League party of Matteo Salvini winning 9 per cent and the slightly more moderate Forza Italia of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi receiving about 8 per of the vote.

The centre-left Democratic Party and its allies had about 26 per cent, while the populist Five-Star Movement, which gained the most votes in the 2018 parliamentary election, saw its share of the vote halved to 15 per cent.

Turnout fell to a historic low of 64 per cent. Pollsters suggested that voters had stayed at home in protest at the backroom deals that had created the last three governments and the motley assortment of parties in Premier Mario Draghi’s outgoing national unity administration.

The results of Sunday’s election put a eurosceptic party in a position to lead a founding member of the European Union and its third-largest economy.

The shift in Italy follows a similar right-wing victory in Sweden and recent gains by the far right in France and Spain.

Far-right leaders across Europe immediately hailed Ms Meloni’s victory, while Italy’s left warned of dark days ahead.

Ms Meloni, whose party traces its origins to the postwar neofascist Italian Social Movement, tried to sound a unifying tone in a victory speech early yesterday.

“If we are called to govern this nation, we will do it for everyone,” she claimed.

However, the formation of a government is still weeks away and will involve consultations among party leaders and with President Sergio Mattarella. In the meantime, Mr Draghi remains in office as caretaker.

The elections took place six months early after Mr Draghi’s government collapsed.

A Meloni-led government is largely expected to follow Italy’s current foreign policy, including her pro-Nato stance and strong support for supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight Russia’s invasion forces.

On migration, Ms Meloni has called for a naval blockade to prevent migrant boats from leaving north African shores and proposed screening potential asylum-seekers in Africa, not Europe.