Sardinians are voting Sunday in key regional elections that are being seen as a bellwether for national politics.
Centre-right governor candidate Paolo Truzzu was neck and neckin opinion polls ahead of the vote with Alessandra Todde, the candidate for the so-called 'broad field' alliance between the centre-left Democratic Parry and the populist leftwing 5-Star Movement (M5S).
The latter is seen as a key indicator as to whether this alliance has a chance of beating the dominant right-centre-rightcoalition of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI), Deputy Premier and Transport Minister MatteoSalvini's rightwing League party, and Deputy Premier and ForeignMinister Antonio Tajani's centre-right post Berlusconi ForzaItalia (FI) party.
A spoiler in the vote will be former Sardinian PD chief RenatoSoru, a noted Web entrepreneur and local hero who is standing as an independent and has attracted two centrist parties that have refused to join the centre-left alliance due to governance candidate from the supposedly extreme M5S, formerpremier and former PD leader Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva (IV) and exindustry minister Carlo Calenda's Azione (Action) party.
In upcoming elections in Abruzzo, the 'broad field' on the center left will be even broader as IV and Azione have decided to overcome their qualifications about joining the PD and M5S because in that case the candidate is not an M5S member.
The other candidate Sunday is the leftist and regionalist LuciaChessa (Sardigna R-esiste).
Voting is only open Sunday, until 10pm, in 1,844 polling stations, while the counting of ballots will begin Monday morning.
More than 1.4 million voters are being called to the polls, and there are about 1,400 candidates for the 60 Regional Council seats, in addition to the key governorship race.
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