Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set for her first regional election loss since winning power in 2022 after a centre-left candidate appeared to have won the vote for the president of Sardinia, partial results showed on Tuesday.With almost all the votes counted, Alessandra Todde, a member of the left-leaning 5-Star Movement who was backed by the Democratic Party (PD), had 45.3% of the vote. That edged out Paolo Truzzu, a rightist candidate handpicked by Meloni, who had 45.0%.Despite the narrow margin and the count not being totally completed, pollsters and newspapers called the result for Todde, who celebrated victory alongside 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 is set to be the first woman president of the island and the first president of any region from the 5-Star Movement.A confirmed victory would also mark the first time that the centre-left has managed to flip a region since 2015 and the result will be a boost for opposition parties after years of ballot-box beatings.Speaking in the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, Todde told reporters she was \u201cvery happy and very proud,\u201d adding that a \u201cpage of history\u201d was being written for Sardinia.The vote was held on Sunday, but counting only started on Monday morning and took an unusually long time, with regional authorities waiving a 12-hour deadline for the completion of the procedure.Meloni\u2019s bloc, including her Brothers of Italy party, the League and Forza Italia, won all four regional elections held in 2023 and until Sunday controlled 14 of Italy\u2019s 20 regions. Polls show the rightist coalition still leads at a national level.\u201cThe wind has changed,\u201d said PD leader Schlein after she and Conte managed to bury their frequent differences to form a united front for the election.Their regional win will put pressure on them to work more closely together if they want to overtake the right nationwide.Sardinia, one of Italy\u2019s two main islands, has around 1.44 million adult residents. The turnout was estimated at 52.4%.Todde, a former industry undersecretary, 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 a March 10 election in the Abruzzo region where the PD and 5-Star have again joined forces, and European Parliament elections in June.Meloni\u2019s Brothers of Italy is leading national opinion polls at around 28%, while the PD has about 20% and 5-Star 16%.(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set for her first regional election loss since winning power in 2022, with centre-left candidate Alessandra Todde appearing to win the vote for the president of Sardinia. Todde, from the 5-Star Movement and backed by the Democratic Party (PD), had 45.3% of the vote, slightly ahead of Paolo Truzzu, Meloni’s rightist candidate, who had 45.0%. This marks the first time the centre-left has flipped a region since 2015 and is a significant victory for the opposition. Todde will be the first woman president of Sardinia and the first regional president from the 5-Star Movement. The election took place on Sunday, with counting starting on Monday and extending beyond the usual 12-hour deadline. Meloni’s coalition had previously won all four regional elections in 2023 and controlled 14 of Italy’s 20 regions. The next political tests in Italy include a March 10 election in the Abruzzo region and European Parliament elections in June. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy leads national polls at around 28%, with the PD at about 20% and 5-Star at 16%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[209,3,153,575,658,419,185,940,634,18],"class_list":["post-3307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-box","tag-cyprus","tag-elections","tag-far-right","tag-history","tag-italy","tag-main","tag-meloni","tag-opinion","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n