Marsilio win is boost for Meloni’s right-wing coalition.

The right-wing incumbent governor of Italy’s central Abruzzo region has been returned to office, election results showed on Monday, in a boost for the ‘centro-destra‘ coalition government.

Marco Marsilio, of the right-wing Fratelli d’Italia party led by premier Giorgia Meloni, secured 53.5 per cent of the vote, while the centre-left candidate, Luciano D’Amico of the leftwing populist Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S), took 46.5 per cent.

Hailing the election outcome as a source of “great pride”, Meloni said in a social media post that Marsilio “is the first president in Abruzzo’s history to be reconfirmed for a second term.”

The result was a boost to Meloni and her right-wing allies after their candidate was narrowly beaten in recent elections in Sardinia, however it is a blow to the opposition centre-left bloc.

Meloni’s party gained the highest number of votes (24 per cent) in the Abruzzo elections, followed by the centre-left Partito Democratico, led by Elly Schlein, with 20 per cent.

In third place was the centre-right Forza Italia, led by Antonio Tajani, which secured more than 13 per cent, while the right-wing Lega took 7.6 per cent, reflecting a recent slide by the party led by Matteo Salvini.

M5S, headed by former premier Giuseppe Conte, took 7 per cent.

Photo ANSA