Centre-right candidate Paolo Truzzu
and centre-left candidate are running neck and neck in the race
for the Sardinian governorship with a gap of just 0.6% with
53.7% of the votes counted.
Truzzu, a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers
of Italy (FdI) party and mayor of Cagliari, is on 45.6% while
Todde, former deputy head of the leftwing populist 5-Star
Movement (M5S) and former deputy industry minister under Mario
Draghi, is on 45%.
The gap looks set to narrow further with the arrival of votes
from the big cities like the capital Cagliari and Sassari where
Todde has a healthy lead, while Truzzu is leading in smaller
towns like Oristano and Olbia.
Tech magnate and fomer Democratic Party (PD) governor Renato
Soru is currently third on 8.1% and the last, leftist and
regionalist candidate Lucia Chessa has about 1%.
The election is seen as a test of whether the 'broad field'
alliance between the PD and the M5S can compete at a national
level with the dominant rightwing alliance of FdI, the League
and the post Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI) party.
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