Its coalition partner, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), was beaten by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) which came second with 21-25 per cent, exit polls showed after voting ended on Sunday evening.
Luigi Di Maio’s M5S received between 18.5-22.5 per cent of votes, while former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) got 8-12 per cent.
The exit polls indicate the League’s rapid rise to power in Italy.
Italy’s March 2018 general election saw the League take home just 17 per cent of the vote, while the M5S – which set itself up as the honest, environmentally-friendly alternative to a corrupt old political guard – pocketed over 32 per cent.
Turnout EU-wide on Sunday was estimated at 51 per cent, the highest in 20 years, suggesting more than 200 million citizens across the 28-nation bloc voted in a poll billed as a battle between populists and pro-European forces.
Each previous EU election since the first in 1979 has seen turnout fall, but initial figures from across the bloc suggested this year’s clash between rising populist parties and those who oppose them mobilised voters.
