Italy takes step into unknown with far-right win

Italy took a sharp turn to the right yesterday after Giorgia Meloni's Eurosceptic populist party swept to victory in general elections, putting a one-time Mussolini admirer on course to become the first woman to lead the country.

Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, won 26 percent in Sunday's election, according to partial results.

It leads a coalition set to win a majority in parliament and install the most right-wing government since World War II.

Her success represents a seismic change in Italy -- a founding member of the European Union-- and for the EU, just weeks after the far-right outperformed in elections in Sweden.

"Meloni takes Italy," read the Repubblica daily's headline, while editorialist Stefano Folli said Italy "awakes this morning very changed".

"It is the first time in decades that the country's political face has transformed so completely. We don't know yet whether its destiny in Europe has changed too, but that is the first of many questions" now facing Italians, he said.

Meloni, who campaigned on a motto of "God, country and family", is expected to become Italy's first woman prime minister, although the process of forming a new government could take weeks.

At a time of soaring inflation, a looming energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, the 45-year-old sought to reassure those worried about her lack of experience and radical past.