Italian voters have flocked to anti-establishment, Eurosceptic parties and rejected mainstream, traditional political parties, the latest predictions from the country’s election indicated on Monday.

The populist Five Star Movement, founded by stand-up comedian Beppe Grillo as a bombastic challenge to the established order, emerged as the big winner of the general election, in a result that will be viewed with trepidation in Brussels.

With around half the ballot counted, it looked as though the Five Star Movement had won around a third of all votes, up from 25 per cent in Italy’s last general election in 2013.

The Eurosceptic, anti-immigration League also performed well, according to preliminary calculations.

The numbers suggested that The League and Five Star together attracted 50 per cent of all votes.