Sardinia has chosen Alessandra Toddeas new governor, the island's first woman chief, on an unforgettable day, former prime minister and leftist populist 5-StarMovement (M5S) Giuseppe Conte said as the former M5S deputy president looked on course for an extremely slim victory over the center right's Paolo Truzzu at the head of a 'broad field' alliance between the M5S and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
"Sardinia has chosen our Alessandra Todde," said Conte at campaign headquarters with Todde holding a 3% lead with a handful of polling stations still to report in.
"She is the first regional president of the M5s, the first woman to lead Sardinia.
"It is an unforgettable day".
Conte added that the 'broad field' alliance could be replicated if the M5S finds "reliable comrades" in another upcoming regional election, in Abruzzo on March 10.
In that case the PD and the M5S and their small leftwing allieswill be joined by two centrist parties, former prime minister and former PDchief Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva) and former industry ministerCarlo Calenda's Azione (Action), who both boycotted the alliancein Sardinia because it was led by a figure from the supposedly extremist M5S.
The victory in Sardinia, Conte said, "is worth even more" because there was "Soru who with Azione went to fish for votes in the progressive camp", referring to tech magnate and local hero Renato Sour, a former PD governor, who teamed up with Calenda in Sardinia and collected 8.7% of the vote.
Conte reiterated that what he called "the right field", rather than the broad field, could be victorious elsewhere.
"We always work to build a solid project with other political and civic forces, with reliable fellow travellers," he told Italian TV.
"We cannot make a commitment with the citizens if we have unreliable companions, because this would lead to ungovernability and we do not go to government to manage power but to bring about change".
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