It is "wrong" to say that
Sunday's regional elections in Emilia Romagna and Calabria are a
vote on the national government, Premier Giuseppe Conte said
Wednesday.
"Saying that the regional elections are a vote on the
government is wrong," he told Italian radio.
"I don't think they will cause fibrillation in the
government.
"But we'll wait to assess them, we trust that the vote can
give more energy to the forces that back the government".
Conte has said he does not think he will have to go back to
his former day job as a law lecturer if the ruling majority is
beaten by the centre right in regional elections in Emilia
Romagna Sunday.
There has been widespread speculation that a centre right win
in the leftwing stronghold might spell the end of Conte's
populist and centre-left coalition.
Conte said he thought it was "absolutely improbable" that he
would be back lecturing in law on Monday.
"I'm not at all sacred of returning to my job as university
lecturer," he said.
"Mind you, it's such a great, such a pleasant job that I
wouldn't be displeased to go back some time in the future".
Conte's government is backed by the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S), the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), the
centrist Italia Viva (IV) party and the leftwing Free and Equal
(LeU) party.
Currently in Emilia Romagna opinion polls, the PD's
incumbent governor Stefano Bonaccini is slightly ahead of the
centre right candidate, nationalist League party member Lucia
Borgonzoni.
The League-led centre right is hoping to win another PD fief
after taking Umbria last year.
The leader of the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League, former
interior minister and populist strongman Matteo Salvini, has
been campaigning heavily in the region.
Salvini's populist message has been challenged by a new
anti-populist grassroots movement, the Sardines, named for their
ability to pack out piazzas to bursting point.
Voters also go to the polls Sunday in Calabria, where the
centre left and centre right are also very close in the opinion
polls.
Salvini has said the government should resign if it loses the
regions, and especially Emilia-Romagna.
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