©Reuters. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni addresses the media during her meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
By Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to lose the first regional election since winning power in 2022, after a centre-left candidate appeared to have won the vote for Sardinia’s president, partial results show Tuesday.
With almost all votes counted, Alessandra Todde, a member of the left-wing 5 Star Movement, supported by the Democratic Party (PD), obtained 45.3% of the votes. This eliminated Paolo Truzzu, a right-wing candidate handpicked by Meloni, who had 45.0%.
Despite the narrow margin and the counting not yet complete, pollsters and newspapers called the result for Todde, who celebrated the victory together with the 5 Star leader and former prime minister Giuseppe Conte and Elly Schlein, head of the largest opposition group, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
Todde will be the first female president of the island and the first regional president of the 5 Star Movement.
A confirmed victory would also mark the first time the center-left has managed to flip a region since 2015 and the result would represent a boost for opposition parties after years of defeats at the polls.
Speaking in the Sardinian capital, Cagliari, Todde told journalists that she was “very happy and very proud”, adding that a “page of history” is being written for Sardinia.
Voting took place on Sunday, but counting only began on Monday morning and took unusually long, with regional authorities waiving a 12-hour deadline for completing the procedure.
Meloni’s bloc, including the Fratelli d’Italia party, the League and Forza Italia, won all four regional elections held in 2023 and as of Sunday controlled 14 of Italy’s 20 regions. Polls show that the right-wing coalition is still leading nationally.
“The wind has changed,” PD leader Schlein said after she and Conte managed to bury their frequent differences to form a united front for the elections.
Their regional victory will push them to work more closely together if they want to overcome the right nationally.
Sardinia, one of Italy’s two main islands, has approximately 1.44 million adult residents. Voter turnout was estimated at 52.4%.
Todde, a former undersecretary of Industry, will replace Christian Solinas who did not run for re-election due to low approval ratings.
The next key political tests in Italy will be the March 10 elections in Abruzzo, where the PD and Five Star have joined forces again, and the European Parliament elections in June.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy is leading the national polls with around 28%, while the Democratic Party is at around 20% and the 5 Stars at 16%.