Vote counting underway after key Sardinia poll

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 26 - Vote counting was underway in Sardinia on Monday morning following key regional elections on Sunday, with turnout down slightly at 52.4% compared to 53% five years ago.
    At the close of polling at 10 pm local time 758,252 Sardinians out of 1,447,753 eligible voters had reportedly turned out to cast their ballot in the elections that are being seen as a bellwether for national politics.
    The average age of voters was said to be 54.2 years.
    The competition is essentially between centre-right governor candidate Paolo Truzzu and Alessandra Todde, the candidate for the so-called 'broad field' alliance between the centre-left Democratic Party and the populist left-wing 5-Star Movement (M5S).
    According to unofficial preliminary results from parties as of around 9:30 am Todde was ahead of Truzzu in four sections in the regional capital Cagliari and in one in Porto Torres.
    Independent candidate Renato Soru, the former Sardinian PD chief and a noted web entrepreneur and local hero, was said to be in third place with his Sardinian Coalition, followed by Lucia Chessa of Sardigna R-esiste.
    Todde, who was neck and neck with Truzzu in opinion polls, is seen as a key indicator as to whether the PD-M5S alliance has a chance of beating the dominant right-centre-right coalition of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI), Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's rightwing League party, and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's centre-right post Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI) party.
    (ANSA).