On Sunday, voting began in Italy, where results are expected to bring back the nation’s most right-wing administration since World War Two as well as the country’s first female prime minister.
Exit poll results will be announced at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT), which is when voting ended at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT).
However, it can take several hours before an accurate seat count is known because to the intricate computations needed by an electoral system that combines first-past-the-post with proportional representation.
When the most recent polls were released two weeks ago, a right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party looked to be headed for a resounding triumph.
There is still room for a surprise, though, as there is a polling blackout in place for the final two weeks before the election.
There have been rumours that the left-leaning 5-Star Movement, the year’s largest party, has gained momentum recently.
The process of creating a government would be made more difficult if 5-Star made a late push, endangering the rightist alliance’s hopes of obtaining a majority in the Senate or upper chamber.
Even if the outcome is clear-cut, the incoming administration is unlikely to be in place until the end of October because the new parliament won’t convene until October 13.
As the leader of a coalition that includes Matteo Salvini’s League party and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, Meloni would be the logical choice for prime minister.
That would be the culmination of Meloni’s amazing ascension, who is a 45-year-old Rome resident whose party received only 4% of the vote in the most recent national election in 2018.
Party infighting that toppled Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s wide national unity cabinet in July led to Italy’s first fall national election in more than a century.
