News Politics

Italy's Meloni hails election victory in Liguria region

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

29 Oct, 2024

Italy's Liguria region elects centre-right Marco Bucci as governor in a tight race against centre-left Andrea Orlando.

Italy's right-wing coalition government on Monday celebrated the victory of its candidate Marco Bucci in the race to be elected governor of the northwest Liguria region.

Genoa mayor Bucci won 48 per cent of the vote, against the 47 per cent of his centre-left rival, former justice minister Andrea Orlando.

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni congratulated Bucci on social media, writing: "Once again, the united centre-right has been able to respond to the expectations of citizens, who confirm their trust in our policies and in the concreteness of our projects."

The election result was also welcomed on X by deputy premiers Matteo Salvini of the Lega, who wrote "Justice has been done!" and Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani who hailed it as "a great team victory".

Congratulazioni a Marco #Bucci per la vittoria alle elezioni regionali in Liguria! Ancora una volta, il centrodestra unito ha saputo rispondere alle aspettative dei cittadini, che confermano la loro fiducia nelle nostre politiche e nella concretezza dei nostri progetti.

Con la… pic.twitter.com/wWHbXXybtk
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 28, 2024

The result is bad news for Italy's opposition on the left, comprising an uneasy alliance between the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) led by Elly Schlein and the populist, left-leaning Movimento 5 Stelle of Giuseppe Conte.

Bucci, 64, pledged to be "the president of all Ligurians" while Orlando, 55, said that victory had been "within reach" and that his failure to get elected was the result of "the difficulties" within the opposition.

Meloni’s coalition governs 14 out of 20 Italian regions and has won several regional elections since coming to power two years ago, as well as narrowly losing to the centre-left opposition in Sardinia earlier this year.

Two more regional elections will be held next month in Umbria and Emilia-Romagna in a key test for the government which will hope to retain Umbria but is unlikely to win in left-wing stronghold Emilia-Romagna.

The vote in Liguria was called after the resignation in July of centre-right former governor Giovanni Toti who became embroiled in a corruption investigation.

Toti has denied wrongdoing but last month reached a deal with the state attorney's office to plea bargain a suspended jail sentence.

Liguria's regional elections were held on Sunday and Monday, with voter turnout around 46 per cent, down from the 53 per cent at the last regional vote in 2020.

Photo Giorgia Meloni X.