ROME: Italians began voting on Sunday in a raft of local ballots and a referendum, with the ruling coalition under pressure in its first electoral test since the coronavirus crisis.
Voters have largely approved of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s handling of the pandemic, but recent opinion polls suggest this will not help his coalition allies in the vote for the heads of seven regions and mayors in almost 1,000 towns.
The rightist opposition, led by Matteo Salvini’s League, is expected to win at least four of the regions up for grabs, and could capture the traditional leftwing stronghold of Tuscany.
A drubbing for the ruling parties would galvanise the League and its allies, but most analysts say it would be unlikely to trigger a government collapse in the midst of the coronavirus crisis and as the country prepares…