Centre-right candidate Paolo Truzzu and centre-left candidate Alessandra Todde are running neck and neck in the race for the Sardinian governorship on 45.3% each with 61.8% of the votes counted, after Todde caught up after being behind for much of three days.
Truzzu is a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party and mayor of Cagliari while Toddeis former deputy head of the leftwing populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) and former deputy industry minister under Mario Draghi.
The gap looks set to narrow further with the arrival of votes from the big cities like the capital Cagliari and Sassari where Todd has a healthy lead, while Truzzu is leading in smaller towns like Oristano and Olbia.
Tech magnate and fomer Democratic Party (PD) governor RenatoSoru is currently third on 8.1% and the last, leftist and regionalist candidate Lucia Chessa has about 1%.
The election is seen as a test of whether the 'broad field' alliance between the PD and the M5S can compete at a national level with the dominant right wing alliance of FdI, the League and the post Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI) party.
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