Matteo Salvini’s anti-migration opposition League party suffered a disappointing round of regional election results in Italy as it failed to win in the historically leftwing stronghold of Tuscany in the country’s first votes since the Covid-19 outbreak.
The failure of Mr Salvini’s candidate to pull off an upset in the central Italian region that has been controlled by the left for the past 50 years further slows the momentum of a leader who has recently seen a fall in support in national opinion polls, and has struggled to set the agenda during the pandemic.
Standing for the ruling centre-left Democratic party (PD) in Tuscany, Eugenio Giani took 48 per cent of the vote compared with 40.5 per cent for Susanna Ceccardi, the young League politician who stood as a candidate for a coalition of Italy’s rightwing parties.
Defeat in Tuscany marks the second time this…