After governing for 50 years, the left has been vanquished in Umbria as the center-right alliance led by right-wing populist Matteo Salvini garnered close to 60 percent of the vote in Sunday’s regional elections.
The candidate for governor of the region, Donatella Tesei, who’s backed by Salvini’s League, the national-conservative Brothers of Italy, and Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia, snagged 57.5 percent of the vote, defeating Vincenzo Bianconi, who was supported by Italy’s ruling leftist coalition.
Some, including Matteo Salvini, have referred to the victory as historic since the region has – for the past 50 years – been well-known as a stronghold for Italy’s left, Il Giornale reports.
“In Umbria, we are writing a new page of history,” Salvini said.
Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy, was also quite pleased with the election’s results.
Forza Italia’s vice president Antonio Tajani also commented on the center-right alliance’s result, saying: “The message of the Italians is that they want a center-right government.”
The center-right’s victory in Umbria continues a trend that has seen support for left-wing parties in Italian regions diminish since 2014. Twelve regions are now controlled by the center-right alliance.
“The results we have seen in Umbria, we are seeing all over the country. This is not a government that represents the Italian people,” Salvini told Radio 24.
“I don’t think it can go on for much longer,” he added, while he again called for early parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, the relationship between the left-wing populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and the establishment Democratic Party (PD) continues to be a tenuous one.
Following the leftist alliance’s defeat, PD Senator Monica Cirinnà blamed M5S, saying: “The [Five Star Movement] was born as a protest movement and then realizes that the government is something else, there is a very contentious group of people inside it and find themselves managing stuff that they are not able to handle.”
M5S also blamed its poor performance on the decision to present a joint candidate with the Democratic Party.
Now, all eyes are focused on January’s regional elections in Emilia Romagna – a northern region that has four times as many people as Umbria – which, for years, has acted as another stronghold of Italy’s left.
Italy (Umbria Regional Election), preliminary final results:Presidential vote:
Tesei (FI|FdI|LEGA-EPP|ECR|ID): 58%
Bianconi (LS|PD|EV|M5S-LEFT|S&D|G/EFA|NI): 38%
Ricci (RP-*): 3%
Rubicondi (PC-NI): 1%
Camuzzi (PaP|PCI-LEFT): 1%
…. pic.twitter.com/4rJhJLu4sO
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) October 28, 2019
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