Salvini loses regional election – News International: Europe

In Emilia-Romagna, Lega candidate Lucia Borgonzoni lost on Sunday with 43.6 percent to the center-left candidate of the Social Democrats, Stefano Bonaccini with 51.4 percent.

The election in the region is considered an important test for the stricken government in Rome made up of five-star movements and social democrats, since Emilia-Romagna has always been in the left hand. A loss to the Lega would be a major blow to the government of independent Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and would further weaken the unpopular coalition.

Big disappointment

Official results are only expected later today on Monday. If the outcome is confirmed, it would be a big disappointment for opposition leader Salvini. He had hoped for a victory in the election to support his claim to power at the national level. After the projections were published, he spoke of an “open race”.

At the same time, elections were held in Calabria, where, according to projections, the center-right candidate of the Forza Italia party, Jole Santelli, prevailed. According to La7 extrapolation, it received 53.2 percent of the vote, the center-left candidate 30.7 percent.

According to projections, the five-star movement had to take heavy slags in both elections. In Emilia-Romagna, the party, once founded as a protest movement, received only 4.4 percent of the vote. Given the impending disaster, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio had resigned from the post of party leader last week.

Heavy slippers

The coalition of stars and social democrats has ruled since September 2019. The two dissimilar parties had come together after the then Interior Minister Salvini had given up the previous alliance with the stars. Both parties are struggling with internal disputes and poor polls and have faced severe slumps in several regional elections. In the 2018 general election, the stars had come to almost 33 percent.

The turnout in Emilia-Romagna was more than 67 percent, almost twice as high as in the previous election. The “sardine” movement, which mobilizes against hate speech from the right and has made it look international, also comes from the region. (SDA)

Created: 1/27/2020, 9:13 AM

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