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Italy’s racist Lega emerges as the big winner from the latest elections
Leader of the Lega party Matteo Salvini addresses a rally in Fiumicino, near Rome

LEGA, Italy’s right-wing immigrant-bashing populist party, is the clear winner not only of the recent election but of the traditional orgy of bargaining between the parties that now command a majority in the House of Deputies. 

The biggest vote-winner was M5S (Five Star Movement) which took a third of the votes in the March 2018 elections and 36 per cent of seats. 

Since the election, its ratings have remained stable but Lega, which rebranded itself as a national rather than regional party, has moved up six points, mainly, it seems, by cannibalising Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. 

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