Centre-right candidate Paolo Truzzu
and centre-left candidate Alessandra Todde are running neck and
neck in the race for the Sardinian governorship on 45.3% each
with 61.8% of the votes counted, after Todde caught up after
being behind for much oftrhe day.
Truzzu is a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party and mayor of Cagliari while Todde
is former deputy head of the leftwing populist 5-Star Movement
(M5S) and former deputy industry minister under Mario Draghi.
The gap looks set to narrow further with the arrival of votes
from the big cities like the capital Cagliari and Sassari where
Todde has a healthy lead, while Truzzu is leading in smaller
towns like Oristano and Olbia.
Tech magnate and fomer Democratic Party (PD) governor Renato
Soru is currently third on 8.1% and the last, leftist and
regionalist candidate Lucia Chessa has about 1%.
The election is seen as a test of whether the 'broad field'
alliance between the PD and the M5S can compete at a national
level with the dominant rightwing alliance of FdI, the League
and the post Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI) party.
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