(Bloomberg) — Italy’s center-left won back the central Italian region of Umbria in local elections in a blow for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition.
The center-left candidate Stefania Proietti, an engineer and current mayor of Assisi, won over the right-wing incumbent from the League party Donatella Tesei, who has been governing the region for the past five years, marking a rare double win for center-left parties over the Premier’s coalition.
In a separate race, in the left-wing stronghold of Emilia-Romagna, incumbent Michele de Pascale prevailed over the right’s Elena Ugolini.
“I would like to extend my best wishes for the new presidents of the Umbria Region, Stefania Proietti, and the Emilia-Romagna Region, Michele de Pascale,” Giorgia Meloni said in a post on X.
This marks a setback for Meloni who has so far won most local elections including last month’s vote in the Liguria region.
Meloni has firmly held power since her 2022 election governing over a stable coalition, a rarity in Italy, formerly known for its revolving door governments. She has repeatedly said she wants to remain in her post for the full five-year term.
Markets have rewarded that stability and her efforts at a moderate economic policy with spreads between Italian and German 10-year bonds, a measure of risk, currently below 130 basis points.
The vote may help reinvigorate an opposition that has had trouble getting traction with voters. It could also cause some cracks in Meloni’s governing coalition, which includes her own Brothers of Italy party, the anti-migrant League helmed by the mercurial Matteo Salvini and the center-right Forza Italia party led by former EU commissioner Antonio Tajani.
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