Faced with a heavy defeat in Italy, the Democratic Party (PD, centre-left) had a better result in Belgium during the general elections on Sunday.
The party led by Enrico Letta won the most votes among Italians in Belgium with 46.32% in the Senate and 34.43% in the Chamber. The participation rate, however, only reached 16.61%, compared to around 21% in 2018.
According to the final results for Belgium published by the Italian Interior Ministry, the Democratic Party is ahead of the right-wing coalition made up of Brothers of Italy, Lega and Forza Italia, both in the Chamber (23.89% for the trio) and in the Senate (23.99%).
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The Five Star Movement obtained third place in the Senate (9.93%) but was overtaken by the Liberties Movement (Movimento delle libertà, a political group of Italian citizens living abroad) in the Chamber (8.78% against 8.64%).
Belgium had 241,812 potential Italian voters for the legislative elections, but only just over 40,170 cast their postal vote.
In Sunday's election results, in both the Senate and the House of Deputies, the right-wing coalition picked up around 44% of the vote, where as the left-wing coalition, led by Letta's PD, brought in 26%.
Giorgia Meloni of Brothers of Italy is expected to form the next government, making it the first time since the Second World War for Italy to be led by the far-right.
