Italians yesterday voted in regional elections seen as a key measure of the fading fortunes of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and an important test for center-left Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. About 20 million voters were eligible to elect governors in seven of the nation’s 20 regions, as well as the mayors of more than 700 municipalities.
The polls are the first in Italy since European elections a year ago in which Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) won with just more than 40 percent of the vote. Observers were also looking closely at the battle on the right between the anti-immigration Northern League, led by European Parliament Member Matteo Salvini, and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy).
The 78-year-old media magnate is eager to make a political comeback after his acquittal on charges of paying for underage sex and a stint of community service for tax fraud.
Photo: EPA
Thirty elected members of Forza Italia have already announced their departure to join the man once considered Berlusconi’s heir apparent, Italian Deputy Raffaele Fitto, who has broken away from the old leader.
A key test for Renzi was expected in the northern region of Liguria, where the PD’s candidate faces rivals in both a left-wing dissident and the right-wing Giovanni Toti, supported by both the Northern League and Forza Italia.
In Campania in the south, PD candidate Vincenzo De Luca, who is fighting the Forza Italia incumbent, has been named in a list of 17 “unpresentable” candidates by an anti-mafia commission.
De Luca has a conviction for abuse of power and faces trial on other charges, including fraud, and could be barred from taking office.
Although an embarrassment for Renzi, the 40-year-old prime minister’s popularity appears to remain high after nearly a year-and-a-half.
Polls opened at 7am and were to close at 11pm, with results expected today.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese