“I’m waiting for the results of the election, given that the debate is still open, not just in one state, but in several,” Salvini told a press conference in the Senate.
“When the result is definitive, [Biden] will receive all the appropriate congratulations.
“Obviously, our relations [with the US] will remain excellent, regardless of who the winner is.
“But the newspapers don’t decide the winner.”
Salvini’s League is the biggest party belonging to Italy’s centre-right opposition.
During the election campaign, the former interior minister and deputy premier made no secret of his support for outgoing president, Donald Trump, who has failed to concede defeat and launched legal actions in several states.
Salvini was often seen wearing a “Trump 2020” face mask and was dubbed “Trump’s Italian cheerleader” by the media for repeating the president’s baseless claims of electoral fraud.
Salvini echoed Trump’s attempt to discredit the results of the US election, saying that parts of the country had “more votes than voters” and that polling stations should stop counting.
Meanwhile, Italian President Sergio Matarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte were among the many world leaders to congratulate Biden on his victory.
“On behalf of the whole Italian Republic, I would like to express my warmest congratulations on your election as President of the United States of America,” Matarella said in a message to Biden released by the Quirinale.
Conte also sent his “congratulations to the American people” and said that Italy is ready to work with their new leader “to make the transatlantic relationship stronger”.
