Sardinia at the centre-left, Todde rejoices: "I am the first female president of the Region"
Agenzia NovaFeb 27
Italy: Sardinia Elects First Female Leader, Defeats Meloni's Party
The Facts
Alessandra Todde of the left-wing Five Star Movement (M5S) party has won the Sardinian presidential election, defeating Paolo Truzzu of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy party.
Truzzu, who was handpicked by Meloni to run on her party's ticket, won 45% of the vote while Todde narrowly beat him with 45.4%.
The Spin
Left narrative
Despite pre-election polls giving the Brothers of Italy an advantage, Todde has proven that Sardinia is shifting in a more liberal direction. Even in the capital Cagliari, where Truzzo was Mayor, the PD-M5S coalition was extremely popular. Todde will not only become the first female leader of the island but also have a historic liberal majority in the regional council.
Right narrative
While liberals will tout this as a grand come-from-behind victory, the truth is that this was only a local race — a very close one for that matter. The Brothers of Italy and its coalition partners remain far ahead of the Democratic Party and M5S at the national level. Meloni picked the wrong candidate this time around, but the Italian people as a whole are still on her side.
Nerd narrative
There's a 1% chance that any of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and/or Germany will leave the EU before 2027, according to the Metaculus prediction community.