Italian 2013 Election Results: Italy Faces Unprecedented Hung Parliament

Impact

The results of the 2013 Italian election is leaving the country with an unprecedented hung parliament, after a massive protest vote against outgoing prime minister Mario Monti's European Central Bank-imposed austerity reforms. Pier Luigi Bersani's center-left coalition won the lower house, and the Senate remains deadlocked (if no governing coalition emerges, an electoral re-run — for which no law even exists yet — might be needed. The prospect makes the markets nervous as it could drag for weeks contributing to the already existing instability and uncertainty (both for Italy and for the euro zone).