Follow the updates on the 2018 general elections with us, with exit polls, projections and results live and in real time to understand who won.
On Sunday 4 March the 2018 general elections were held in Italy, giving rise to the new Parliament. In Lombardy and Lazio, voters also went to the polls to choose the president and the new regional council of the Region. Clear and more precise data was not expected until between 2 and 3 in the morning. The elected MPs (630 deputies and 315 senators) must now reach an agreement and a majority in order to choose and vote, in turn, for the new government that will lead the country for the next five years, until 2023. A total of 46,604,925 Italians were called to vote for the Chamber and 42,871,428 for the Senate, given that only citizens aged 25 and over are eligible to vote for the upper house. The total number of polling sections is 61,552.
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The turnout figure at the close of polls is close to 73 per cent.
At 7:00 pm it stood at 58.42 per cent for the Chamber. At the same time in 2013, turnout had been 46.7 per cent, but voting took place over two days back then. For the regional elections it reached 57.9 per cent.
At 12:00 pm, turnout in the general election stood at 19.43 per cent; in 2013 it had been 14.94 per cent. For the regional elections it was 18.94 per cent.
6:00 am – The distribution of seats according to the latest projections
The M5s has won – according to the average of the latest projections – 234 seats out of 630 in the Chamber of Deputies, followed by the Lega with 122 seats and the Pd with 105. Then Fi and Fratelli d'Italia, which form part of the coalition with the Lega, winning 96 and 33 seats respectively. The situation is slightly different in the Senate, where the Pd risks becoming the fourth largest group with 50 senators out of 315, overtaken also by Fi (53). The M5s obtains 115 seats, the Lega 58.
3:20 am – On the side of the losers, outgoing Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina declared that "it is clear that for us [the Partito democratico, ed.] this is a clear and decisive defeat. The outgoing secretary Matteo Renzi will make a fuller assessment in light of tomorrow's final figures during the day. For us this result is clearly negative." The most striking figure is that of the Pd and the centre-left in Emilia-Romagna.
2:45 am – The fourth Swg projection for the Senate.
Below is the third projection from the Consorzio Opinio Italia for Rai.
2:20 am – Le Monde speaks of a success for anti-European parties "even though no clear majority has emerged" from yesterday's general election. Meanwhile the euro is experiencing rather turbulent moments following the news of the Movimento 5 stelle's "victory." After rising on the back of the good news from Germany, which finally has a new government, it then "crashed," according to the British Guardian.
2:15 am – The second projection for the Chamber with a coverage of 35 per cent.
1:40 am – The first Swg projection for the Chamber of Deputies is very similar to that for the Senate, with a coverage (sample) of 15 per cent and a statistical margin of error of 0.78 per cent.
1:20 am – The third projection for the Senate, with 60 per cent coverage.
1:00 am – The two parties that appear able to celebrate at this point are the Movimento 5 stelle and the Lega. So Giancarlo Giorgetti, deputy secretary of the party led by Salvini, said that the projections represent "a great satisfaction for the Lega," describing the results taking shape as historic given that "we started from 4 per cent," while the Lega now appears to be heading towards 16–17 per cent. An equally enthusiastic tone from Alfonso Bonafede, the Movimento 5 stelle's candidate for Justice Minister: "There is one clear element emerging from this data, namely that the M5s will be the pillar of the next legislature."
12:35 am – The second projection for the Senate confirms the first almost entirely. But the sample is now 40 per cent.
Monday 5 March, 12:05 am – Based on the first projection for the Senate, still very partial and to be treated with caution (sample at 12 per cent), the scenario is one of "political cataclysm," as announced by Enrico Mentana himself live during his Maratona Mentana on La7.
