"It's a good day for Italy, because there are five years of stability ahead," Salvini declared during a press conference at his party's headquarters in Milan.
Salvini admitted he was dissatisfied with his party's result, just under 9% of the vote compared to the 34.3% the Lega polled in the 2019 European election. However, he congratulated Giorgia Meloni, his coalition partner. Her party, Brothers of Italy, came out on top in Sunday's election, with over 26% of the vote, giving the coalition around 44% in the Senate and Chamber of deputies.
The Lega leader said he was looking forward to being part of a center-right government after fraught experiences in government alongside the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement as deputy prime minister in 2018-2019 and later from October 2021 to June 2022.