04/03/2018 BBC News Special

Hello and welcome to BBC News. We

are going to bring you a special

programme tonight, to bring you the

very latest on the elections that

have been going on in Italy. It is a

general election and Italians are

waiting to find out who will form

their new government. Of course,

Italy is famous for its coalitions

and this time it is even more

uncertain than ever, partly because

of the populist groups like a Five

Star Movement, who are predicted to

do well today, and partly due to

changes in the whole voting system.

These are pictures of today, Matteo

Renzi casting his vote. And, of

course, the polls are about to

close. The former Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi has re-emerged as

a political force, even though he

cannot stand and become Prime

Minister as yet because of a fraud

charge. He is frame much seen as a

power. This is Matteo Renzi casting

his vote today. It is expected there

could again be a coalition. Let's

get the very latest on the

background to this whole election.

Italians are electing members of

both Houses of Parliament. 630 in

the lower house of deputies and 315

in the upper house, the Senate but

at this time the system has been

tweaked so that seeds of first past

The Post, the candidate with most

votes in the district wins. The

other ones are chosen by

proportional representation, based

on the share of the vote nationally.

This election sees some new faces

and not so new battling it out for

supremacy. The keeper is likely to

be Silvio Berlusconi. Yes, here's

back. -- a key player. If fraud

conviction bars him from holding

office at least until next year. He

is teamed up with two parties on the

hard right, including La Lega. The

Five Star Movement could gain at the

expense of Matteo Renzi's ruling

Democratic Party who are trailing in

the polls. Italian politics is all

about coalitions. Which combination

could come out on top? One

possibility is a right-wing

coalition with Fortson Italia and my

league joined by the brothers of

Italy. The other centre-left party

Free And Equal have refuse the idea

of a coalition for that there could

be a German star grand coalition

between centre-left and centre right

foot of it is all very uncertain. --

a German style coalition between

centre-left and centre right. That

was an explanation of the background

to the election. Let's get the

latest now. Katya has been following

the build-up to today's vote. In

polling stations across Italy today

there was a sense of uncertainty.

Voters told us they wanted change

but were not sure which political

party to trust.

TRANSLATION:

Italians are abused and

frustrated. Logicians need to hear

our boys today.

I am so worried

about Italy, I said a prayer before

coming to vote. -- our voice today.

The current government is preparing

for a bruising at the polls.

Italians say top concern is the

insecure job market, concerned with

the Euro and mass migration from

Africa. Luigi Di Maio is the leader

of the Five Star Movement, tipped

tonight to become Italy's largest

political party. I caught up with

him in Naples before he cast his

vote.

Traditional politicians have

been telling Italians everything is

fine when it is not. I want to be

amongst the people.

The political

system here favours coalitions. His

controversial party could be left

out in the cold. Meaning this a

million face could be kingmaker

instead. Naples and the South of

Italy will swing today's vote.

Silvio Berlusconi campaigned here

this weekend on behalf of a

right-wing coalition peppered with

populists, like this rising star

anti-immigration politician voting

today in Milan. So, what does this

rather chaotic political picture

mean for Italy and Europe? After all

this is the Eurozone's third largest

economy. Confusion is went

essentially Italian. Rascals is used

to it, the financial markets seemed

prepared for it. -- Brussels they

believe a coalition government with

watered-down populist policies on

offer. How does that help Italians

get to grips with the problems?

There is a civilian protest party in

Naples.

These days, Italy's Leticia

's blame everything on immigration

but that is a life of the youth

unemployment and precarious

contracts are our problem. That is

why Italians feel badly.

Votes now

passed, all Italians can do is wait.

Today's election will be followed by

weeks of political horse trading.

Change does not come fast in Italy.

We are indeed getting details of the

first projections from the Italian

general election. Local media is

predicting now be no overall

majority in the new parliament. One

report saying the Five Star Movement

will be the largest single party.

Let us get more now live from Rome.

Welcome to Rome. Absolute deluge

cheer. The polls have just closed

but as the polls closed, the first

exit polls came out. We had to treat

them with caution. There is a

significant margin of error. You

outlined the main headlines. The

Five Star Movement is coming out by

far the largest single party. The

exit poll also pointing to a hung

parliament, no block or single party

has managed to secure the necessary

majority. What we would expect now

is a process of discussions and

talks for the forming of a coalition

government. Let's talk to the

director of the centre of

formulations and an editor, Antonio.

What does this mean in practice? In

practice, it is not going to be

really different from what we have

been seeing in the last weeks with

the previous polls. Actually, the

big difference is, as you said, the

Five Star Movement is going to be

the first party but it is going to

be over the 30% ratio, so it is

quite interesting. The outcome,

according to these numbers and if

they will stay the same until

tomorrow morning, the outcome is

almost the same we don't have a

majority, so you will start

mediation. We will be having

negotiations. The most interesting

thing is that Forza Italia, and La

Lega, they are on the same level, so

we will see.

We're looking at

pictures of the Five Star Movement

election event. This is a really

significant achievement. They were a

force that did not exist a few years

ago.

Absolutely right foot if this

is confirmed it means that almost

one out of three people in Italy

voted for the Five Star Movement.

Definitely. When we started the

negotiations, because nobody has

reached the 40% threshold that is

required by this law in order to

rule the country, I think the head

of state will have to start with the

Five Star Movement.

No doubt about

that. It would be very strange if a

party with a far smaller share of

the vote were allowed to start to

try forming a government.

We cannot

ignore it. It is such a bold

statement by the Italians. No doubt

about that. As we said before, there

is another indication, I think,

which is particularly interesting.

If this is confirmed, and if Matteo

silvery ani -- Salvini is ahead, if

it is confirmed this is the end of

Silvio Boase Coney's leadership in

the centre right and the North

league will have a strong say in

that coalition.

-- Silvio

Berlusconi. What difference do think

the new electoral system will have

made question papers looked at being

something to keep the Five Star

Movement down.

We need to consider

that these figures can change very

much during the night. This

electoral system is very difficult

in this scheme. First the

proportional vote and then the first

past The Post votes. It is difficult

now. It is up to the president of

the Republic to decide how to start

this negotiation. The first

milestone we have to consider is

that, on the 23rd of March, the

Senate and the chamber will appoint

President. We will see if we have a

kind of majority balance between the

groups and then we can understand

how the negotiation will go.

The

left, the centre-left coalition, is

really trailing 20% to 23%,

according to the X8 poll.

I am just

looking at the Democratic Party now.

-- the X8 poll. It is around 23%,

not a huge score. I would also put

in question the leadership of the

current secretary. Altogether...

Matteo Renzi, the former Prime

Minister.

The coalition together,

they will have to start compromising

and accepting conditions proposed by

others.

Do we have any idea what the

main, or the most likely,

possibilities for a coalition

combination might be? At the moment

you could just take your pick.

Exactly. It is like that you can

take any party. Trying to find if

you can reach a majority. Actually,

I think it is too soon to go like

that. In the previous days there

have been talks about negotiation

between the Democratic Party and the

Forza Italia. It appears to be on

the model of the broad coalition,

like in Germany, for example. Then

we start to think about the Five

Star Movement with the Northern

League.

That would be the populist

apocalypse that some people were

scared of.

Populist, exactly will

stop

How many days, weeks and months

to rethink... It is hard to guess,

isn't it? Will it be as long as

Germany? Will we see the same thing

in Italy?

We have to wait at least

until three o'clock in the morning,

if not much longer, maybe six, seven

o'clock, to have secured data that

we can say something will stop in

any case you can have any kind of

scenario and we will see a period of

speculation and negotiations. The

most Eurosceptic scenario of course

will be the Five Star Movement

together with the North league. That

would be the scariest one of those

who believed in the European

project. As we were mentioning

before, there have been rumours of

negotiations between the Democratic

Party and Silvio Berlusconi's is a

Italia. But we have to see the

numbers.

How much caution should we

have? -- Forza Italia.

A lot of

caution. She was saying until three

in the morning, maybe later, we do

not know. We are not secure about

what we are seeing. It is really

difficult to make a call at this

moment, especially if there is a gap

between the weakest part and the

strongest one. I want to come back

to the other question. You ask how

long it will take will stop at least

a month before the parliament has

selected its president and then we

start the negotiation.

The new MPs,

the new government were they all

have to sit down in the building

behind us and in the Senate before

the President can actually give a

mandate to try to form a coalition

to the chosen party?

Exactly. It

will be like that. You'll be April

at least we will see within two

months if we can have a government.

-- it will be April.

Two months.

Can

we guess? I don't really know. Let's

see what happens.

I am wondering

about your thoughts about the

campaign and how it has compare the

previous election campaigns fought

at the last general election was in

2013. Has this seemed more bitter

because of the migrant crisis which

has reared since the last election?

It has. It has been a strange

campaign in my opinion. We have seen

so many different items on the

agenda. Maybe sometimes, not really

going into details, but I think this

is the same for all electoral

campaigns. This time I think the

real difference was the fact that at

least one political party with the

news at the end of the campaign with

the thing about presentation and the

Five Star Movement and the list of

ministers. This was seen from

outside is something really new and

interesting, maybe unusual according

to this parliament but it was

different. Interesting to see if it

has an impact on the outcome of the

vote.

Stay with us. We will be

speaking a lot more. We are here in

Rome, the capital. There is a

Northern powerhouse in Milan, of

course. James Reynolds is there. How

are things looking?

People here are

waiting to see whether or not the

exit polls we confirmed, and really

the league party, formerly known as

the Northern League, whether or not

it really has made as a national

force, capable of having an

influential say in the Government.

The party founded here in 1991 was

the secessionist party. It wanted to

leave Italy. Now it wants to lead

the country. It will wait to see

whether or not its support holds up

when the real results come in.

How

great, James, are the economic

differences between North and South

in Italy?

In some ways, they are two

different countries, bolted together

by the geography of Italy. When you

look around Milan, and you take the

train six hours to the south and you

look around the south, you realise

there is a huge golf in the GDP in

the standard of living. Bearing in

mind that was the fuel for the

Northern League when it was a

regional secessionist party. It

said, why should we have to

subsidise the South? Now it wants to

lead the South. It has brought in a

new enemy, migrants, illegal

migrants. I put that to the leader

of the party week or so ago. He

corrected me when I said migrants.

He wants to be a national voice. The

party has to reconcile the fact that

for many years the rhetoric was

aimed against the South making it

difficult for Southerners to vote

for a party which has had its

loudest voice in the North will stop

James, you have been travelling the

country, as you mentioned was

speaking to all sorts of keep

layers.

How has the election

campaign fell to you?

-- players.

Angry and divisive. A lot of

Italians when they look back on it

will look back at one town to be

symbolic of the election. In January

there was a story about the murder

of a young Italian woman. Italian

authorities have been looking at a

migrants as a possible suspect.

Shortly after that and Italian far

right sympathiser shot at six

migrants in that town. It came to

symbolise a very bitter and very

divisive campaign.

Thank you very

much. James Reynolds reporting live

from Milan. Back here in Rome, I am

joined by someone from force Italia,

the party of the centre-right in the

coalition -- Forza Italia. Thank you

for joining us. How disappointed are

you with the exit poll results so

far?

I am waiting for the final

results. It is more or less the

intention of the voting but I'm

waiting for the final results. I am

happy because now my organisation is

in last position.

We are waiting for

that. Just looking at the Forza

Italia figures, 12.5% to 15% at the

same as the coalition partners to

the right of view. Is this the end

of Silvio Berlusconi?

Absolutely

not. We will check at the end but

the result is good for us. We also

have the original campaign in

Lombardi and in Lazio. It is

important, the Forza Italia results

in this region. It is important to

understand what has happened

tomorrow. At the moment, nobody is

able to organise and to create a

government.

If you have your

coalition partners on the same or

greater share of your block vote,

then your party, there will be a

power struggle surely. Mateas

Salvini surely wants to be in a

position of being in charge.

Pay

attention. Jawing his campaign, he

made it clear he didn't and doesn't

want to go out to Europe and, about

this argument, we have the same

line. We need to have ten clear

points in the programme. This is the

rule. He seems to have softened his

line on Europe a little. In the past

he said the Euro was a crime against

humanity. No, no. I know very well

the value. If you check the last

declaration of Mateas Salvini --

Mateas Salvini, you know he will

want to stay in Europe. He has said

things like Mussolini obtained great

things for Italy. Mussolini is one

of my colleagues. I think Benito may

have been the person he was talking

about. I think the past is the past

and the present is the present. We

would like to discuss about jobs,

about the young unemployment and

about the real problem that we have,

not about the past. The past is

closed for us. If you consider the

period of Mussolini, the period of

the Communists, it is another era.

Is it time for a big change in Forza

Italia question that we have seen

Silvio Berlusconi trying to reinvent

himself, trying to win the Hearts of

the Italians who see him as a safe

pair of hands.

Some words and ideas,

that are not Italian but European

and American newspapers. Not only

say about other skinny before the

election. We are happy that Silvio

Boesky only is present. --

Berlusconi. Also in the UK or in

America, they declared that

Berlusconi is the solution of this

problem.

I think it is right. Thank

you very much. We shall see what

happens. Let's move to the new force

in Italian politics that we have

been hearing so much about, the Five

Star Movement, which has really done

incredibly well, according to the

exit polls over 30% of the vote. My

colleague is at the Five Star

Movement election event, just across

town from where we are. Just tell us

what the atmosphere is like.

Well,

the atmosphere here is both of

celebration and great expectation.

That is because everyone is waiting

to see how accurate the exit polls

really will be. If the margin

between the centre-right coalition

is really narrow, the president will

have to choose the Five Star

Movement to give them the mandate to

form a government. This is an

historic result. We are talking of

the party that ten years ago did not

exist. It started as a protest

movement, a movement against

political corruption, efficiencies

of the Public Administration. Ten

years later it is confirming itself

as the first largest party in the

Italian parliament. It is a great

result, undoubtedly.

Many people

wonder what exactly does the Five

Star Movement stand for? You have

told us what they often say they are

against the how they want to change

things, but are they able to be

defined by left, right or centre or

none of the above?

Well, that is the

novelty of the Five Star Movement.

When they presented themselves as a

party, they said they were neither

right nor left wing. That is

something of the past. The Five Star

Movement looks at the democracy.

They think that the web and intranet

is the new way to give a voice to

all voters and they are looking at

good things for Italy and the

interests of the country. Their

candidates are people who do not

have political experience. They say,

we are honest people and that should

be enough as to lead the country. It

is difficult to define what the Five

Star Movement stands for. Many of

their policies are agreed online.

They just published their proposals

and people can vote what they prefer

to do and that is how they define

their political agenda will stop

even on issues like immigration or

the European Union, the Five Star

Movement listens to what people

want. That is also part of the

reason why they have been so

successful. They really are

listening to what voters want. For

the good side and the bad things as

well.

Thank you very much for the

moment. Let's bring in the BBC put

back Europe editor, who is with me

and has been following things

closely. You have been in Naples.

What do you do have from the figures

we have at the moment of the scene?

Two main ideas. What a slap in the

face for the ruling centre-right.

They say they have started to

implement reforms and that the

Italian economy after the double-dip

recession is slowly getting on its

feet again. Voters were not with

them today. He were they with? The

Five Star Movement. The young

upstart party looks to be Italy's

largest party. It is not big enough

to govern on its own. There will be

weeks now of horse trading ahead and

the Five Star Movement may not make

it into government. The fact that in

the lower and upper house of

parliament, the upper house of

parliament is key. The age you can

vote is from 25 upwards. The Five

Star Movement has been seen as

something for the young and ignorant

he wants something exciting. If the

over 25 voted today, it means they

are onto something and it is a very

big nose thumb to the traditional

parties in Italy. The kind of upsets

we have seen from Germany to Denmark

to Sweden. There is a movement in

politics and things are changing. In

Italy things will not change fast

enough.

The Five Star Movement have

said they would be a pillar of the

next government. How will Europe be

looking at this?

It is interesting.

From a European perspective, it is

not long ago that European leaders

pretty much forced out Silvio

Berlusconi. This was at the height

of the problems in Italy for W is

seen as a laughing stock because he

was surrounded by scandal and was

convicted of tax fraud that means he

cannot stand for Parliament. His

party could be a kingmaker and

surrounded by populist figures, the

Five Star Movement on the one side

and La Lega on the other. Europe

looks to Sylvia both go only as an

elder statesman and a calming

figure. -- Silvio Berlusconi. It

shows what a state of turmoil

Italian politics is in. Turmoil

tonight. I was in Milan before,

Naples, and now in Rome for the many

feel they are cynical. After all the

horse trading, whether things really

will change.

You have been all over

the country, as you have mentioned.

How much has the ideology of the far

right filtered into the mainstream

in people's use, particularly with

immigration?

The anti-immigration

rhetoric was a bandwagon that most

parties jumped on in the election

campaign. It was divisive and people

had to think, what can we use to get

extra votes? It was a cheap trick.

For many Italians, not at all, it is

something they are worried about.

Many African migrants have come by

vote to Italy. Most of them wanted

to go north into the rest of Europe.

They got stuck in Italy and even

though the amount of non-Italians

living in Italy is only around 10%,

in voter polls they think it is

three to four times more than that

and they feel threatened by

globalisation, unemployment and

migration as well. I think you can

see a European theme. The parties at

the centre, like Berlusconi pulse

like party are stealing rhetoric

from the right because they know it

is a vote winner, anti-immigration,

also things like security is high as

well.

You mentioned the left. Where

are they? The centre-left, we have

Matteo Renzi, the former Prime

Minister put in charge but they have

taken a beating.

Chris Jericho was supposed to

with the centre-left, it is a

European team, where is the centre

left across Europe? Today they

agreed to join a coalition with

Angela Merkel in Germany but on the

back of a performance that was its

worst ever in modern German history.

I think across Europe waters are

punishing the centre-left for the

economic crisis. There are

traditional base of workers saw the

centre-left

traditional base of workers saw the

centre-left propping up government

decisions to bail out the banks

before the people and that is

something voters will not forgive

them for and I think it's a mixture

of reasons here in Italy but that

will be in the next night.

What can

we expect now? Over the forthcoming

hours we will get exit polls

becoming slightly clearer and when

is the definitive result of what is

not very definitive at all in the

election going to be with us?

We can

do an Italian gesture here, who

knows? This is Italian politics. We

don't know what kind of horse

trading is going to go ahead. Silvio

Berlusconi will try to push for his

right-wing coalition and I take

issue with it being cold centre

right because it's some very far

right elements in the. He's going to

try to go for the mathematics of

that one. Tonight we are in the

lower house of parliament but in

buildings all over Italy politicians

will be huddled together as Italians

will be in front of their TV

screens, worrying and wondering

about the mathematics. You will pull

it off and who is going to lead the

next time government? Right now we

cannot predict but it will be hard

for the new biggest party to make

coalition friends in government. It

will be interesting to watch.

We

talked about immigration being such

a important thing, and unemployment.

It's the same problem as brands,

youth unemployment, Marine Le Pen

did very well, youth unemployment is

chronic in Italy particularly in the

south, in parts of Sicily it's up to

50%, Italy wide it can be 30%. This

is unacceptable for young people and

their parents to tolerate. So that

is the kind of picture we are

seeing.

Thank you very much. Let's

go back to Milan. James, talking to

summon the people in Rome, I often

got the same answer, complete and

utter exhaustion with the

politicians in charge. A lot of

people telling me today they were

not going to bother voting, how is

the situation up there?

Here the

funny thing, people say that but

then turn out in Italy is usually

reasonably high. In other words

people grumble but they grumble on

the way by and large to the Polling

Station. Older people tend to come

out and vote more than younger

people. Silvio Berlusconi knows

that, he knows older people watch TV

which is why a lot of his campaign

was based on TV, hoping for a strong

turnout amongst older voters to try

to counteract as you have been

discussing the potentially strong

showing of the 5-star movement among

young people. One point from the

land which applies to Rome, you do

not get a rosette in this election

for being the biggest single party.

That does not get you anywhere, you

have got to find coalition partners.

If Five Star Movement is the biggest

single party it's an enjoyable

evening for them, but they would

have to find coalition partners to

get into government.

Thank you James

for the moment. Still with me,, I am

wondering how much patience you

think Italians have while they wait

for government, the talks could go

on for so long.

I think some people

are saying also that there might be

re-election, I do not think this is

a likely scenario because that would

be a revelation. Think about the 5

Star movement arriving first, I

don't think they are happy with the

possibility of going for election. I

think then the Leave they will have

to wait until it is done. We will

have to learn to be patient in this

regard.

Yes I think she's right,

they have to have some extent of

patients this time. It happened

already in 2013 with the forming of

the government, it's not really news

for Italy, the thing is this time we

don't really know if the first

coalition is going to find other

allies in the other coalition with

the parliament. I think this will be

the biggest? The role of the Five

Star Movement to ally with other

parties if other parties are going

to ally with Five Star Movement.

I

think this is a delicate question

because the Five Star Movement has a

big chance to rule the country but

at the same time the one they decide

to go with will determine their fate

I think. Because if the goal with

Northern League, not necessarily the

electorate will be happy with that.

It would be very interesting how the

Five Star Movement will move.

We are joined by an author and

entrepreneur, thank you for

squeezing in under our tent, what

are you making of it?

I am not

surprised at all to tell you the

truth, everyone knew already in the

palaces these would have been the

numbers especially because they made

this electoral law with the purpose

to not let the Five Star Movement

win too much so everybody knew it

already. The real disgrace is the

electoral law but to tell you the

truth I am not worried. People

should not be worried because

actually in this Italy I think it's

better to have a coalition

government than any Five Star

Movement full government or a

populous government led by Matteo

Salvini. I am hopeful. At the

beginning they thought less, but now

they think even four eventually, she

is an amazing politician. She did

everything we have now, the divorce,

abortion, all this liberalist, we

had to thank her that so maybe she

could be a good one to rule the

country.

I totally agree, I think

our marriage was to put Europe in

the elections, we always complain

that Europe is not in the discussion

of the elections, she had a double

merit, the first was also influence

people to talk more about Europe, to

be less shy about it, to be strong

on that, like Emmanuel Macron. On

the other hand you could see really

the difference between those who

have a European project in their

minds and have a vision on that and

those who are very, very sceptical

about Europe. What has been said

before is true, the language of the

Northern League has soft and, even

the language of Five Star Movement

has softened towards Europe but

let's face it, everybody wants to

strong Italy, Europe, but how you go

to Europe, the method you use, the

instrument you use will make the

difference. There you will see a

huge difference between those who

want a European finance minister,

meaning the Democratic Party, and

those who absolutely think OK, let's

have a say in Europe but be very

sceptical.

I think it's true that

more Europe is interesting, first of

all because if it's going to score

more than 3% it's going to take some

seats away from the Democratic Party

and this will be interesting in the

formation of Parliament. On the

other side it true, it puts on the

agenda the European topic, even in

the name which is quite, I'm not

sure about what they can do about

the formation of the government,

this we will have to see again.

Italy has defined a government cope

with some financial obligations in

Europe within this year, within

2018, within the European semester.

So to some regards I think Europe

will be a driver for the formation

of a government but I am not really

sure it's going to have an influence

as with so before with Jean-Claude

Juncker making decorations that are

not appreciated in Italy.

Stay with

us, to remind those of you just

joining us, we have got the exit

polls which come out over an hour

ago as the polls closed here in

Italy, what it shows is that no

majority for any party, the largest

party now according to the exit

polls is the Five Star Movement with

possibly over 30% of the vote.

That's a remarkable achievement from

a party, it does not even call

itself a party, it is a movement

which came out of nowhere just a few

years ago as an antiestablishment

tide. Let's go to its election event

and talk to my colleague across the

city, how are they reacting?

Well we

are still waiting for the leader of

the movement to arrive, Luigi Di

Maio, but the atmosphere is here of

celebration, they have been talking

of an

INAUDIBLE

This party was not even a party, now

it is Italy's largest political

formation. To talk more about that I

am joined by a journalist, what is

the key of the success of the Five

Star Movement?

They give hope to the

people that this country can change.

They identify themselves with the

leaders because the leaders are

normal people like you and me. Luigi

Di Maio was a student five years

ago. Another was a normal person and

everything. The normality is the key

of their success. The fact that this

country can become normal.

How

likely do you think it is now that

the president will give Five Star

Movement the mandate to form a

government? They are still under a

centre-right coalition but they are

under the largest party in

parliament.

At the moment they are

the first party in Italian

parliament so it will be difficult

but this electoral law gives power

to the coalitions. So the

centre-right coalition is now the

first coalition in Italy. But there

is a problem inside the centre-right

coalition because there is a

challenge between Silvio Berlusconi

and Matteo Salvini tonight. It will

be difficult to choose because

otherwise if the Five Star Movement

decides it can join other parties to

have a government like the

constitution says then the mandate

could be given to form a new

government but I think it would

rather be centre-right.

Thank you

very much for joining us, we have to

wait and see. I have been talking to

some politicians from the Five Star

Movement here and what they are

telling me is that whoever the Prime

Minister designated will be he will

not be able to ignore the fact that

the Five Star Movement tonight is

Italy's largest party in parliament.

Back to you. Fight back

extraordinary, the Five Star

Movement making such waves during

the campaign and it will be

interesting to see how its voice of

opposition will translate into being

a pillar of government as it says it

will be in the next government, that

is what it said since the exit poll

came out. Let's show you a graphic,

we have to be a little bit cautious

with these figures because in

previous elections I think the last

election it was a 5% margin of error

but what it does show is if you put

these into three main blocks, the

centre-right is out in front with up

to 36%, the three parties combining

in that. That's in the lead but

still far short of the 40% needed to

form a government by itself. The

Five Star Movement, that remarkable

result, 29.5 to 32.5% and this is

the governing party's coalition, the

centre-left coalition is trailing.

All in all over 20 parties in this

rather complicated election, we were

talking earlier about the new

election system, it's been

completely untested which makes

everything even more unpredictable

because it's a hybrid first past the

post and proportional representation

system so Italy has been a difficult

thing to predict. Final thoughts,

you have found this, this has been

interesting in all sorts of ways,

this election.

Absolutely

interesting and scary of course but

this is Italy. Either of you

remember but our first Republic and

the first governments were like

this. We have a real proportional

electoral law and we are changing

governments all the time but

actually it was tabled, Italy was

tabled. I know outside Italy people

don't quite understand that. I don't

know, times are made like this. I

also respect a lot people who voted

for Five Star Movement, I did not

because I don't think they are right

for government but I respect them

because it means actual politicians

failed and especially Matteo Renzi,

he is a big loser of these

elections. We have to admit that

because he called this kamikaze

referendum and you know what I mean?

I must get a final word?

I think the

picture is precisely this, we have

to wait until late in the morning. I

think tomorrow and let's see.

We are

out of time, thank you all three of

you for being with us in these

rather challenging weather

conditions here in Rome. We were

expecting the couple more exit polls

which will become a bit clearer in

the coming of hours and in the

middle of the night we should get

the definitive