Italy's far-right League top party in EU vote: exit polls

ROME: The far-right League party of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini won the most votes in Sunday's European elections in Italy with 27-31 percent, according to exit polls.

Its coalition partner the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) was beaten by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) which came second with 21-25 percent, exit polls showed after voting ended at 2100 GMT.

Luigi Di Maio's M5S garnered between 18.5-22.5 percent of votes, while tycoon and former premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia scored 8-12 percent.

"The League has probably become the top party in Italy," the head of the party's Senate grouping Riccardo Molinari said after the exit polls were released.

The result for the anti-migrant League was not as high as some had predicted but appeared to confirm the party's stellar rise since forming a government in June last year.

Some analysts predicted that Salvini would want to call snap elections if the League obtained a high score, although he has denied this during campaigning.

"As far as I'm concerned, if the League wins nothing changes in Italy, everything will change in Europe, starting from tomorrow," Salvini said on Sunday before exit polls were released.

The March 2018 general election in the eurozone's third largest economy saw the League take home just 17 percent of the vote, while the M5S -- which set itself up as the honest, environmentally-friendly alternative to a corrupt old political guard -- pocketed over 32 percent.

Analysts said that a strong League result -- over 30 percent -- could see Salvini tempted to ditch the M5S for the far-right Brothers of Italy (which won 5-7 percent on Sunday), or a fresh alliance with the party's historic partner, billionaire Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia.