Italians are on course to elect the country’s first female prime minister and the first government led by the far-right since the end of World War II.

Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party are set to gain 26.4% of the vote, according to an exit poll late Sunday night. The party is in a broad right-wing coalition with Lega, under Matteo Salvini, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and a more minor coalition partner, Noi Moderati.

This alliance is set to win 44% of the vote, according to exit polls, enough to gain a parliamentary majority with the center-left bloc on 27.4%. Early projections from the actual election results are due Monday morning.

Reuters reported that Italy’s main center-left party conceded defeat early Monday morning.

Reaching political consensus and cementing a coalition could take weeks and a new government may only come to power in October. {snip}

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party was created in 2012, but has its roots in Italy’s 20th century neo-fascist movement that emerged after the death of fascist leader Benito Mussolini in 1945. A 2019 speech from Meloni helped her become a household name when an unsuspecting DJ remixed her words (“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian”) into a dance music track, which went viral.

After winning 4% of the vote in 2018′s election, Brothers of Italy and 45-year-old Meloni used their position in opposition to springboard into the mainstream. Meloni has taken great measures to appeal to a more moderate center-right majority in Italian society and claims to have rid her party of fascist elements.

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