Rome, 13 Feb. Italians vote today on the second day of elections to elect the president of the regions of Lazio (center) and Lombardy (north) from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time (6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. GMT), when polling stations will close, in which a low turnout is expected, in addition to the victory of the right-wing coalition.
The great protagonist of these elections in the two most important regions of the 21 of the country is abstention, since at 11:00 p.m. (22:00 GMT) Sunday, at the end of the first day, only 29.7% had left. at the polls of voters, less than half compared to the 2018 elections.
The right-wing coalition that governs Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni, leaves as the big favorite in an election considered to be a first test for the Prime Minister, nearly four months after he came to power.
A victory is expected from the right-wing alliance which competes together and without cracks to keep control of Lombardy, the industrial and economic engine of the country, and incidentally to conquer Lazio, important for welcoming Rome and which has been governed by the left since 2013 .but who suffers from the crisis of the Democratic Party demonstrated in the last general election.
With the result almost already known, an important aspect of these elections will be whether Meloni’s party, the Ultra Brothers of Italy, the most powerful in the coalition since the generals, becomes hegemonic in Lombardy, historic stronghold of the League of his partner Salvini. .
Nearly thirteen million Italians -5 in Lazio and 8 in Lombardy- were called to the polls in an election that has not finished warming up an electoral campaign climate and which was organized over two days to encourage participation.
In Lombardy, the right is betting on the outgoing president, Attilio Fontana, responsible for getting through the pandemic as the region has become the first western focus of the coronavirus.
The opposition, the Democratic Party (PD) and the M5S, have managed to agree on a common candidate, the former Milan councilor Pierfrancesco Majorino, but the centrist Terzo Polo will support Letizia Moratti, former runner-up to Silvio Berlusconi and vice- regional president until 2022 when she left the right.
In Lazio, the conservatives will once again appear united in support of former Italian Red Cross president Francesco Rocca, while the split between centre-left parties will be even greater than in the other region.
And it is that the PD and the M5S ended up proposing different candidates: the Minister of Health, Alessio D’Amato, and the journalist Donatella Bianchi, respectively. ECE
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