Giorgia Meloni's alliance scores victory in south Italy poll

Rome, April 23 (IANS/DPA) The right-wing alliance of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has scored a victory in a regional election seen as a barometer of national opinion ahead of European elections in June.

In Basilicata in southern Italy, centre-right candidate Vito Bardi was re-elected as regional president with 56.6 per cent of the vote, compared to his opponent from the centre-left, Piero Marrese, with 42.1 per cent.

Bardi, who has been in power in Basilicata since 2019, said he would "continue to be the president for everyone."

At 49.8 per cent, voter turnout in Basilicata was lower than in the 2019 election. Around 540,000 people live in the region.

Since October 2022, the ultra-right Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) under Meloni have governed at the national level together with Matteo Salvini's right-wing populist Lega and the conservative Forza Italia party.

Fourteen of Italy's 20 regions have centre-right governments.

The election in Basilicata was seen as a test of public opinion ahead of the June European elections.

In the latest national polls, Meloni's Fratelli are in first place with 28.5 per cent.

They are followed by the Social Democrats (PD) of opposition leader Elly Schlein with 21.2 per cent and the Five Star Movement of former prime minister Giuseppe Conte with 15.9 per cent.