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.
via Reuters
