Voters in Italy began voting on Sunday morning in early legislative elections, in which opinion polls expect the far-right Brothers of Italy to achieve first place with a quarter of the vote.
Polling stations opened at 6 am local time, while voters were waiting to cast their votes.
The centers will remain open until 11 pm, provided that, upon closing, the first opinion polls will be issued, which will reflect a clear picture of the results.
It is likely that the leader of the "Brothers of Italy" party, Georgia Meloni, 45, will head a coalition government in which the dominance of the extreme right will be at the expense of the traditional right, and if she wins, she will become the first female prime minister in the country's history.
This will constitute a political earthquake in Italy, one of the founding countries of Europe and the third economic power in the eurozone, as well as in the European Union, which will have to deal with the politician close to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
"Everyone in Europe is worried to see Meloni in government... the party is over, and Italy will start defending its national interests," the party leader warned during her election campaign.
Meloni pledged to cut taxes, reduce bureaucracy, increase defense spending, close Italy's borders to immigration, and renegotiate European treaties with the goal of giving Rome more sovereignty.
On the other hand, left-wing parties suffer from dispersal, at a time when polls gave the Democratic Left Party between 21% and 23%.
These early elections were organized after the collapse of the national unity government led by Mario Draghi last July.
However, things have not yet been resolved, and Emiliana de Blasio, a professor of sociology at Luis University in Rome, pointed out that it is not possible to predict the outcome of the elections, which is determined by feelings and the last moment. Participation rate.
The elections may include surprises, especially in the south of the country, with regard to the results of the "Five Star Movement" opposing the institutions of government, which is credited with establishing a minimum wage for the poorest, and the (left) Democratic Party, which has a strong local base.