Five key takeaways as Italy makes historic lurch to the far-right
Here are the key takeaways from Italy's snap general election that pitted the parties of Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi against a left-wing bloc dominated by the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement.
As head of the biggest party (Brothers of Italy) in the winning right-wing coalition, Giorgia Meloni is poised to become Italy's first woman PM.
In a highly patriarchal country whose leading political figures have overwhelmingly been male, Meloni's victory represents a major break from the past.
In an interview before the election with Euronews, she stated that "it would be an honour for me to be the first to break this taboo in my country".
She may have received a form of backing from former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said that women being elected to office represented a "step forward".
But not everyone is convinced Meloni will be good for women's rights.
Centre-left MP Lia Quartapelle, for instance, described her as a "token" figure for a macho right and noted how the Brothers of Italy manifesto makes sparing references to women and gender.
If exit polls are accurate, Italy's future government will consist of a coalition of the Meloni-led Brothers of Italy -- a descendant of the Italian Social Movement, a neo-fascist party -- as well as Matteo Salvini's Northern League, which has an anti-immigrant and populist platform, and Silvio Berlusconi's more moderate Go Italy (Forza Italia), whose politics align more with liberal conservatism.
For most of the post-war period, Italy was dominated by the now-defunct Christian Democracy, a big-tent, conservative and pro-American party that combined more right-wing and leftist factions. Following the 'Bribesville' scandal of the early 1990s, Italy's
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