Italy's Opposition M5S Suffers Defeat in Vote for Municipal Mayors – Exit Poll

Italy's largest opposition Five Star Movement (M5S) suffered a crushing defeat in the vote, held to elect municipal mayors ahead of looming snap parliamentary elections, an early exit poll showed Monday.

ROME (Sputnik) – On Sunday, the citizens of 1,021 municipalities, 153 of which have more than 15,000 inhabitants voted in the municipal poll.

The candidates from the Five Star Movement did not enter the second election round, slated for June 25, getting third and fourth places in the seven largest Italian cities, namely, Palermo, Genoa, Verona, Parma, Taranto, L'Aquila and Catanzaro, according to the exit poll, published by the local RaiNews broadcaster.

Italy is likely to hold the early legislative election in fall. Previuosly, the elections were slated for 2018, however, on December 6, 2016, Italy's then Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that the country could hold snap parliamentary elections in February 2017, following the resignation of the country's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the wake of the government-proposed constitutional referendum. Renzi's resignation took effect on December 12, 2016.