Turnout dropped sharply in Sunday's municipal elections in the northern regions of Val d'Aosta and Trentino Alto Adige.
In Valle d'Aosta the percentage of voters who cast ballots was 61%, compared to 66% at equivalent elections in 2010.
In Trentino Alto Adige the percentage dropped to 63.7% from 69.8% and six municipalities in the regional are set to be put in the hands of government-appointed administrations because the voter quorum was not reached.
With most of the papers counted, in Trento the candidate for Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), incumbent Mayor Alessandro Andreatta, was on course for victory in the first round, with 53.6% of the votes.
In Bolzano, the PD's incumbent Mayor Luigi Spagnolli had a big lead but was not expected to reach the 50% threshold needed to gain victory in the first round, so a runoff vote is likely.
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