FLORENCE, ITALY – Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday hailed the results of Sunday’s regional elections, in which his Democratic Party (PD) won in five out of seven regions holding ballots.
In traditionally leftwing Tuscany, the PD’s Enrico Rossi garnered 48.03%, with the center-right’s Claudio Borghi lagging by over 20 points. In Umbria the race was closer, with PD candidate Catiuscia Marini at 42.78% of the vote against the center-right’s Claudio Ricci at 39.27%.
PD candidates prevailed in Marche and Umbria and were ahead in Tuscany, Puglia and Campania with most of the votes counted. But the party suffered a massive setback in Liguria, losing to centre-right candidate Giovanni Toti, a close aide of Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi who was also backed by the Northern League.
The PD’s Vincenzo De Luca looks set to edge the contest in Campania, although the result is likely to be overshadowed by the fact that the parliamentary anti-mafia commission put him on it’s list of unfit candidates on Friday. As expected, Governor Luca Zaia of the Northern League was poised to win in Veneto with over 50% of the vote.