The title of the Oscar-winning movie, The Shape of Water, summarizes very well the results of this past weekend’s Italian vote. But, contrary to the movie, Italian water has no shape and Italian politicians have no container to shape it, yet. A convoluted electoral system, immigration issues and the collapse of the leadership of left-wing parties have created a political conundrum that might push the vivid creativity of Italian politicians into unexplored territory.

To say that Italy is moving to the right is not completely true. This election was not about traditional left- and right-wing ideologies, but mainly about issues like immigration, especially in the northern party of the country, and economic and social alienation in the south.

The winners of Sunday’s election are Matteo Salvini, leader of the Lega, and Luigi Di Maio, leader of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle, or Five Star Movement.

Salvini won the support of the wealthier northern electorate, not because he was a right-winger but because he was able to better capture the concerns of the Italian electorate about the chaos surrounding immigration. At the same time, populist Di Maio captured most of the vote in the southern part of Italy because of huge social and economic problems and increasing resentment against the central government in Rome. Support for Five Star comes from both the traditional ideological left and right.

The Italian vote is no longer divided between left and right, but between north and south.

Parties in the traditional moderate centre, with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia leaning to the right, and Matteo Renzi’s PD (Democratic Party) leaning to the left, were not able to capture the changing mood of the electorate and were defeated.

Voters were looking for a change and they believed Berlusconi was a man of the past. The debacle is much more serious on the traditional left, whose leadership is unruly, litigious, rancorous and ideologically confused.

They created the condition for some of their supporters to park their vote with the unconventional Five Star Movement, the biggest political organization now in Italy.

However, the success of Five Star goes beyond the problems of the centre-left leadership.

The main issue in these elections was neither corruption nor unemployment, but immigration. The vast majority of Italians are not against immigrants, but they are frustrated and scared by the numbers and, most importantly, the inability of their government to provide them with proper social and economic support. They feel that new immigrants are unloaded into their daily routine, disrupting their daily lives and creating cultural shock, and then forgotten.

The immigrant issue has contributed to raising tension and radicalized the debate with words like racism, fascism and anti-fascism.

This radicalization has helped Trump-like leaders to gain support. In fact, along with the Five Star Movement it is the right-wing component of the centre-right coalition, led by Lega Matteo Salvini, that gained the most with his anti-immigrant politics. Salvini’s stand on immigration made even his Forza Italia partner Berlusconi look moderate.

After Sunday’s vote, Italy is left with no centre-left leadership, a problematic centre-right coalition that for the first time might be led by someone to the right of Berlusconi, and with the organizations that gained the most, Five Star and Lega. Italy is deeply divided, with the south solidly behind the Five Star Movement and the north behind the right-wing Salvini. The moderate centre is seriously weakened and the left is nowhere to be seen.

Furthermore, Salvini and Di Maio have both toyed with the idea of pulling Italy out of the European Union. This is a huge problem for Italy and for Europe. An anti-European Italian government would raise EU instability, which is already at a dangerous level.

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In the meantime, Italy needs a government and, despite the bellicose proclaimations heard during the campaign, I am convinced that the creativity of Italian politicians will find a compromise that will avoid another disastrous vote in a few months.

Angelo Persichilli is a freelance journalist and a former communications director for prime minister Stephen Harper.