Rome--Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was licking his wounds Monday after suffering a setback in regional elections which saw both the right-wing Northern League and comeback kid Silvio Berlusconi celebrate key wins.
Projections showed centre-left candidates ahead in five regions but Renzi's party paying the price of internal divisions on the left which split the vote in Liguria and saw the northwestern region fall to a delighted centre-right.
Sunday's polls were the first in recession-hit Italy since European elections a year ago in which Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) unexpectedly stormed to victory with just over 40 percent of the vote.
While the premier's popularity remains high, the regional results were a warning of the threats posed in Italy by a rise in euro-scepticism and immigration fatigue, dissension on the far-left, and the phantom of billionaire Berlusconi.
"The League is the most serious alternative to Renzi in Italy today," its leader Matteo Salvini told Italian media after the party's candidate romped to victory over the PD in the Veneto region.
Political analysts singled out Salvini as the election's real victor for winning back centre-right voters across the country who had been temporarily seduced by Renzi.
But Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party also had much to celebrate.
The 78-year-old media magnate is keen on making a comeback after a series of legal woes which saw him forced to do community service for tax fraud.
His candidate Giovanni Toti looked set to snatch Liguria after the left scored an own goal by throwing a far-left breakaway candidate into the ring.
AFP
