Solinas was projected to win and polls show the League has seen significant gains for the upcoming EU elections in May.
The turnout for Sunday’s vote was higher than usual for regional elections on the island. League leader Salvini commented that “the result changes nothing at the level of the national government” after speculation that the outcome could impact Italy’s coalition government, because the League and M5S were rivals.
But Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni said “after this new collapse of the 5-Star Movement it seems to me that the end of the government is getting closer”.
Salvini pointed to the implosion of the old establishment leftists, saying “from the general election to today if there is one sure thing it is that out of six electoral consultations, the League wins 6-0 against the Democratic Party (PD).
“Also in Sardinia, after Friuli, Molise, Trento, Bolzano and Abruzzo, the citizens have chosen to let the League govern. And like in Abruzzo, in Sardinia too it is the first time we have run in the regional elections.”
There are obvious reasons for the continued bitter attacks on anti-migration, conservative parties in the run-up to the EU elections this spring: Traditional parties are failing to attract votes.
According to leftist think tank Timbro’s new “populism index”, more than one in four voters in Europe are voting for anti-immigration parties – the same number of people who vote for social democratic parties.
As a political force in Europe, conservatives is now twice as strong as leftists and equal to social democracy. It is a historic shift that we see, says director of Timbro Andreas Johansson Heinö.
A total of 71 million, corresponding to 26,8 percent, of Europe’s 264 million citizens voted for a “populist” party at the last national election in their country.