Italy’s Center-Left Democratic Party Concedes Election Defeat

People stand next to a poster of Enrico Letta, secretary of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), at party headquarters during the snap election in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 25, 2022. Remo Casilli/Reuters

Italy’s main center-left group, the Democratic Party (PD), conceded defeat early Monday in a national election and said it would be the largest opposition force in the next parliament.

“This is a sad evening for the country,” Debora Serracchiani, a senior PD lawmaker, told reporters in the party’s first official comment on the result. “(The right) has the majority in parliament, but not in the country,” she claimed.

Provisional results showed that an alliance of right-wing parties led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party had won around 43 percent of the vote and was on course for a clear majority in parliament and control of both houses of parliament.

Meloni is set to become Italy’s first female prime minister.

Head of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, Giorgia Meloni waves from the stage during a united rally of the League (Lega) party, the Brothers of Italy party and the Forza Italia (FI) party for a protest against the government in Piazza del Popolo in Rome, Italy, on July 4, 2020. Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images

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