Can the Italian left halt the far right’s advance in Emilia-Romagna?

League leader Matteo Salvini is seeking to capture a traditional leftist stronghold, but a new protest movement is rallying.

By Gregorio Sorgi

Leader of Italy's far-right League (Lega) party, Matteo Salvini (C) gestures on stage next to centre-right Senator and regional candidate Lucia Borgonzoni (L) during a campaign rally on January 18, 2020 in Maranello, a week ahead of Emilia-Romagna regional vote. - The Emilia-Romagna regional election of 2020 will take place in Emilia-Romagna on January 26, considered the first competitive one in the history of the region, a stronghold of left-wing parties since the end of the World War II. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP) (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)

Matteo Salvini has described the upcoming regional election in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, on 26 January as a cultural clash against left-wing hegemony. The leader of the far-right League promises to “liberate” the former social-democratic stronghold from the centre-left, which has held the regional government ever since its establishment in 1970.

But the dominance of the Democratic Party (PD) in Emilia-Romagna formerly known as “the red region”, has faded over the past five years and given way to a populist backlash. The League won 34 per cent of the vote in the region in last year’s European elections, while the PD came second with 31 per cent. Another victory for Lega in Emilia-Romagna this Sunday against the PD, represented by incumbent president Stefano Bonaccini, would deliver a blow to the national coalition government between PD and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5s), and reinforce Salvini’s image as a prime minister in waiting.