By Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) -Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her coalition allies looked poised to secure sweeping election victories in Italy’s two wealthiest regions on Monday, strengthening the right’s grip on power across the country.
Meloni’s right-wing bloc was set to oust the incumbent centre-left administration in Lazio, which is centred on the capital Rome, taking between 50.5% and 54.5% of the vote in the Feb. 12-13 ballot, an exit poll for broadcaster RAI said.
The right also looked certain to keep control of Lombardy, which is home to Italy’s financial capital Milan, claiming 49.5-53.5% of all votes cast, the RAI poll said.
It was the first electoral test for Meloni since she won power at a national ballot last September and confirmed that she was still enjoying a strong honeymoon with voters, although an exceptionally low turnout took some shine off the victory.
Only 42% of voters bothered to cast a ballot, the lowest ever recorded in the two regions.
“It is unfortunate that the turnout was very, very low. We must try to rebuild the relationship between citizens and institutions,” Fabio Rampelli, a senior member of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, told RAI television.
Nonetheless, he said if the exit polls were confirmed by the final vote tally, the right’s crushing victory would be “an extraordinary result.”
The twin victories would leave the right in charge of 15 of Italy’s 20 regions as well as central government, punishing the divided centre-left which has failed to present a united alliance in a string of recent elections.
Lazio and Lombardy between them account for just over a quarter of Italy’s population and generate a third of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP).
While the right’s overall election win looks assured, much attention will be given to the breakdown of the vote between Brothers of Italy and its two junior partners — former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and Matteo Salvini’s League.
Brothers of Italy surged past both parties in the 2022 national election and political commentators say if it builds too dominant a lead, both Berlusconi and Salvini will need to find ways to regain the political initiative at the possible expense of government stability.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante; Editing by Gavin Jones)
