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.
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