ROME: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) won regional elections in Calabria and Emilia Romagna yesterday but an exceptionally low turnout suggested growing disillusion among many voters.
After years of economic crisis that has created hardship among a growing number of Italians, the lacklustre turnout was a clear warning sign for Renzi as he faces pressure to push through potentially unpopular financial belt-tightening.
Renzi, who scored a record victory in European elections in May, claimed another win but acknowledged that large numbers of voters had stayed away. “The turnout was bad, the results were good. A clear 2-0,” he said in a tweet yesterday. “Slap in the face from abstentions,” read the headline in the Corriere della Sera, Italy’s biggest daily newspaper.
In the central region of Emilia Romagna, traditionally a stronghold of the left, PD candidate Stefano Bonaccini won 49 percent with the support of the leftist Left Ecology Freedom party.
However, turnout was just 40 percent, down from 65 percent at the previous election, with many voters apparently put off following the resignation in July of centre-left governor Vasco Errani in a fraud scandal.
In the southern region of Calabria, PD candidate Mario Oliverio won more than 61 percent with the support of smaller leftist and centrist parties. Turnout was 44 percent against almost 60 percent last time.
In Emilia Romagna, the anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party — which campaigned in a centre-right coalition including ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, did better than expected, winning nearly 20 percent of the vote, while Forza Italia took 8 percent.
Reuters
