In defeat for Italy's PM Meloni, centre-left wins in Sardinia

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government suffered its first electoral setback Tuesday since coming to power, with the narrow victory of the centre-left opposition in regional elections in Sardinia.

Alessandra Todde, an MP from the Five Star Movement allied with the Democratic Party (PD), defeated Paolo Truzzu, a member of Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party representing the coalition government, with 99 percent of votes counted Tuesday morning.

Her victory was by a whisker — 45.3 percent of the vote against 45 percent for Truzzu — but represents the first electoral defeat for Meloni since she took office in October 2022.

“Today we’ve shown that the right can be beaten,” said Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.

Former premier Giuseppe Conte, leader of the Five Star Movement, added: “Sardinian citizens have closed the door on Meloni and company and opened it to the alternative. The air has changed.”

Todde — who becomes the first woman president of the southern Italian island — served as a junior minister under Conte and under former premier Mario Draghi.

Her election for a five-year term comes just four months ahead of European Parliament elections, a fresh test for Meloni and her coalition partners, Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and the centre-right Forza Italia.

“Sardinia, a slap to the government,” read the headline of La Stampa daily.