ROME: Voters in two Italian regions, Emilia Romagna in the north and Calabria in the south, went to the polls on Sunday in local elections that could help propel far-right opposition leader Matteo Salvini to national power.
Both regions are currently controlled by the centre-left and while opinion polls have long predicted a win for the right in the underdeveloped Calabria, the result in the north is far less certain and politically much more significant.
One of Italy’s wealthiest regions, Emilia Romagna is home to the Ferrari sports car and Parmesan cheese and has been a left-wing stronghold since World War Two.
Salvini has spent weeks relentlessly campaigning in the area and hopes that an upset victory for his League party and its rightist partners would so destabilise the coalition government in Rome that it could even collapse.
“Friends of Emilia-Romagna and Calabria... I’m counting on you. Let’s liberate these wonderful regions from the (centre-left Democratic Party) PD and then let’s liberate the whole of Italy,” Salvini tweeted on Sunday. At 1100 GMT turnout in Emilia Romagna was 23.44 per cent, more than double that at the previous regional elections in the region in 2014, indicating very high interest in the vote.
Salvini’s anti-immigrant, anti-European message has resonated in the region during the campaign, especially in the smaller towns and cities, as has his pledge to slash taxes.
Underscoring his confrontational style of politics, Salvini caused a stir last week by ringing the interphone at the apartment of a family of Tunisian migrants and, in front of TV cameras, asked if they were drug dealers. — Reuters
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