Sicilians vote for new governor in last test before 2018
MILAN — More than 4.6 million voters in Sicily are heading to the polls Sunday to pick a new regional governor in the last important vote before a national election early next year.
While five candidates are running, political polling heading into the vote indicated that the race has narrowed down to a contest between centre-right candidate Nello Musumeci and the 5-Star Movement’s Giancarlo Cancelleri. Both parties hope a victory will give them momentum heading into the national race.
Because of fears of vote tampering, the Interior Ministry in Rome has ordered that no votes be counted until Monday morning
A victory by Musumeci would restore the traditional political order of the island, after four years of a centre-left administration. On the other hand, a victory by the 5-Star movement would hand the populist party its first regional administration, and a complicated one with lagging economic growth, high youth unemployment and embedded Mafia culture.