Some 4.3 million Italians are called
to the polls Sunday and Monday for key regional elections in
Emilia-Romagna and Umbria which will be another test for the
right-wing national government and the centre-left opposition
after last month's election in Liguria which saw the centre
right narrowly prevail.
The centre-right candidates are backed by Premier Giorgia
Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, Deputy
Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's right-wing
League party, and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio
Tajani's centre-right Forza Italia party.
The centre-left candidates are supported by the so-called 'broad
field' of Elly Schlein's centre-left Democratic Party (PD),
former two-time premier Giuseppe Conte's anti-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S), the Green-Left Alliance (AVS) of Angelo
Bonelli and Stefano Fratoianni, and centrist groups Azione of
former industry minister Carlo Calenda and Italia Viva (IV) of
former premier and ex centre-leaning PD chief Matteo Renzi.
A centre-right win in Emilia Romagna would be a seismic shock
for the region, which with Tuscany is only one of two regions
that has always leaned leftwards in the 54-year history of the
regions, which were set up in 1970.
The centre-left candidate in the northern region, Ravenna Mayor
Michele de Pascale, is well ahead in pre-election polls of the
centre right's Elena Ugolini, an independent head teacher with
roots in the Catholic activist group Communion and Liberation
(CL).
The elections in Emilia-Romagna have been brought forward a few
months after the election to the European Parliament of former
centre-left governor and current PD chair Stefano Bonaccini, who
in any case could not have stood for a third time.
In Umbria the centre right is bidding to retain control of the
region which it took for the first time with the League's
Donatella Tesei five years ago.
Incumbent Tesei, a civil and administrative lawyer who is the
former mayor of the small town of Montefalco, is up against the
centre left's Stefania Proietti, an engineer and researcher who
is the current mayor of Assisi and president of the province of
Perugia.
The controversial right-wing mayor of Terni, Stefano Bandecchi,
was running with his small right-wing Popular Alternative party
but has now switched his support to Tesei and could swing the
result in her favour, some pundits say.
Pre-election polls in the central region were too close to call.
Meloni is hoping the centre right's long winning run in regional
elections, aside from one blip, will continue.
Since it took office two years ago her rightwing coalition has
prevailed in 11 out of 12 local elections if June's European
elections are included.
The sole centre left win has been in Sardinia.
Voting in the two regions began at 07:00 Sunday and will run
until 15:00 Monday.
Turnout at noon Sunday was about half it was at the same stage
last time.
In Emilia-Romagna the election campaign was mainly animated by
two issues: post-flood reconstruction and healthcare.
On both issues there has been a blame game: the Left accuses the
government of not having given the promised reimbursements to
the flood victims, of not having put enough money into
environmental protection projects and of having heavily defunded
the public healthcare system.
The Right accuses those who have administered the Region in
recent years of not having spent the money that was made
available by Rome and of having organized the public healthcare
system in ways that have worsened its efficiency.
The most tense moment of the entire election campaign was on
November 9 when in Bologna, near the station, there was a
neofascist CasaPound march that was first opposed by a garrison
promoted by the partisans group ANPI, then by a demonstration by
student groups that clashed with the police.
A very harsh exchange of accusations and a very heated
controversy followed, which pitted in particular the mayor of
Bologna Matteo Lepore and Meloni against one another.
The premier accused the centre left of justifying violence
against the police, a contention the centre left angrily denied,
while saying the CasaPound demo should not have been allowed in
the centre of a leftwing city like Bologna which in 1980 saw 85
people killed in the neofascist bombing of its train station,
Italy's worst postwar atrocity.
In Umbria the campaign has also seen clashes on whether Tesei, a
heavyweight in Salvini's nationalist and anti-migrant League,
has run the region known as the Green Heart of Italy well since
becoming the right's first Umbria governor in 2019.
Transport, health care and the environment have been the hottest
electoral issues.
In 2024 the centre right has won in Abruzzo, Basilicata,
Piemonte and Liguria, while the centre-left broad field can only
boast the win in Sardinia.
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