The rightwing League party has lost
its 'holy' fief of Pontida near Bergamo, where it has been
holding its semi-mystical annual national rallies since 1990
marking the 1167 Oath of Pontida setting up the Lombard League
against Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
League candidate and outgoing mayor Pierguido Vanall was beaten
by the representative of a civic list, Davide Cantù.
The League came third among government parties in the EU
elections behind Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy and
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's post Berlusconi Forza Italia
(FI), after long being the undisputed second-placed member of
the coalition.
To make mater worse, founder and former leader Umberto Bossi,
who set up the Pontida event, voted for an FI candidate.
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