Italian populist and far-right parties have their eye on making major gains in Sunday's election, spooking investors and European capitals after a campaign dominated by fears about immigration and the economy. Rival parties held their final rallies on Friday as no campaigning was allowed on Saturday, at the end of a bitter race marred by clashes between far-right and anti-fascist activists.
The result could end up in a draw between the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, three-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition and the ruling centre-left Democratic Party. Many Italians are cynical about promises made by squabbling politicians and confused, also because a new electoral law makes the outcome hard to predict and increases the chances of a stalemate.
"Personally, I see a lot of confusion, a lot of disorientation. And then a lot of disgust, to be honest, towards politics, politicians," said Giuseppe, a resident of Florence - the hometown of Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi. Franco Bianchi, another Florentine, said: "This campaign has lacked clarity. There are manifestos that, I think, are impossible to realise."
One of the most remarkable features of the election has been the return to the political limelight of the 81-year-old Berlusconi despite a career overshadowed by sex scandals and legal woes. While he cannot hold office because of a tax fraud conviction but is still hoping to play a leading role and has put forward European Parliament President Antonio Tajani as his prime ministerial nominee.
Berlusconi's plans, however, face a challenge from his ambitious coalition partner, League leader Matteo Salvini, whose anti-immigration and eurosceptic rhetoric has fired up the campaign. Italy's election "epitomises everything, it is pure populism," former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who harnessed the populist insurgency that propelled US President Donald Trump to power, said in an interview with the New York Times.
Bannon, who is visiting Italy as part of a European tour, told the paper: "The Italian people have gone farther, in a shorter period of time, than the British did for Brexit and the Americans did for Trump". Bannon called a coalition between the Five Star Movement and the League the "ultimate dream".
Salvini could head the government if the coalition wins and if his party gets more votes than Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy). "From Monday, the League will govern this country," Salvini told supporters at his final campaign rally in Milan on Friday. The right-wing alliance has promised to deport some 600,000 irregular migrants - a proposal dismissed by the government as unfeasible.
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