EXPLAINER: Italian election only part of forming government

ROME (AP) — A Sunday parliamentary election will determine who next governs major industrial economy and key NATO member Italy. Given the country’s fractured political spectrum, no single party stands much chance of winning enough seats to govern alone, so it could take weeks to build a ruling coalition. Electoral alliances are vital in how seats are divvied up. The center-right’s solid campaign pact has the edge, since the rival center-left forces failed to forge a united camp. Italy could see its first far-right premier of the post-war era and its first woman in that office — Giorgia Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party has led opinion polls.