Italy's opposition blame disunity and populism

The leaders of Italy's opposition parties on Monday blamed their defeat on a lack of unity and on voters choosing a path of populism, after Giorgia Meloni's rightist bloc overwhelmingly won the national election.

Near final results showed the conservative alliance, which includes Meloni's Brothers of Italy, Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, on course for a solid majority in both houses of parliament.

Centre-left and centrist parties, who fought the election on their own after a series of bust ups, collectively won more votes than the right, but an electoral law that awards a third of seats on a first-past-the-post system favours broad alliances.