The League: Dominating the north and centre
It's no surprise that the top party overall won big in its heartland of northern Italy. But it also spread its reach across the traditional “Red Belt” of left-wing support between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, and down into the centre.
EU election results: Italy's League wins more than a third of vote
Around 41 percent of voters chose the League in the north, compared to 34 percent nationwide. Its single most successful region was Veneto in the north-east, where it won just under 50 percent.
? La mappa della distribuzione del voto alla Lega evidenzia il carattere sempre più “nazionale” del partito di Salvini che – pur mantenendo le sue zone di forza al nord – ottiene percentuali molto alte anche al centro-sud. #Europee2019 #maratonaYouTrend #ElezioniEuropee pic.twitter.com/n8vUNy8Axy
— YouTrend (@you_trend) May 27, 2019
The party's total slipped to 33 percent in the centre of Italy and fell to its lowest in the south and islands, where it won around 23 percent. Its weakest region – and the only one in all Italy where it won less than 20 percent – was Campania, the area around Naples (19 percent).
The result remains a huge win for a party that until recently referred to southern Italy as a parasite on the wealthy north, and scored just over 6 percent in EU elections five years ago.
It even managed to come top in parts of the centre-south, including Lazio, Abruzzo, Sardinia and the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, where scores of the migrant boats decried by League leader Matteo Salvini have landed in recent years.
#Europee2019: la nostra mappa per comune evidenzia come la #Lega ne conquista in ogni regione, con un colpo d'occhio evidente in tutto il Nord e Centro, ma anche in Sardegna e Puglia. I comuni targati #M5S sono tutti al Sud pic.twitter.com/VARkYoqkTa
— YouTrend (@you_trend) May 27, 2019
?️ Come è cambiato il voto in Italia? Ecco la nuova geografia elettorale, poco più di un anno dopo le elezioni politiche del 4 marzo 2018! #Europee2019 pic.twitter.com/zfCUsBSwdd
— YouTrend (@you_trend) May 28, 2019
The Democratic Party: Big in cities
The exception to the League's hold on the north was in the big cities: Salvini's hometown of Milan bucked the regional trend and voted for the opposition Democrats, as did Rome, Florence, Genoa and Turin. Just over 30 percent of the capital voted for the PD, while Italy's second city provided its best result: 36 percent.
? Il PD conferma la sua forza nelle “zone rosse” e nelle grandi città, ma non riesce a sfondare al sud.#Europee2019 #maratonaYouTrend #ElezioniEuropee pic.twitter.com/OE5arfA5Iq
— YouTrend (@you_trend) May 27, 2019
The only region where the party won outright, however, was Tuscany (33 percent). While it came second behind the League throughout the north, in most of the south it was relegated to third or even fourth place, hitting a low of 15 percent in Molise.
The Five Star Movement: Still convincing the south
Italy's north-south divide was nowhere sharper than when it came to the Five Star Movement's results.
The party struggled to get above single figures in the north-west, yet topped 30 percent in parts of the south. Its strongest region was Campania, where it won just under 34 percent (compared to 17 nationwide and 9 percent in its weakest region, Lombardy).
? Prosegue la “meridionalizzazione” del M5S, che però è molto in affanno al Nord, dove rimane sotto il 10% in diverse provincie.#Europee2019 #maratonaYouTrend #ElezioniEuropee pic.twitter.com/UD7pIduH3C
— YouTrend (@you_trend) May 27, 2019
Leader Luigi Di Maio complained that the movement suffered from low turnout in the south, which saw some of the biggest drops in voter numbers among slipping participation nationwide.
Turnout in Campania, Sicily and Sardinia was down by between 4-6 percent compared to the national average of -3 percent, while in Abruzzo it plunged by 12 percent.
Other trends: Italians abroad vote progressive
Forza Italia, the party of Silvio Berlusconi, saw its worst results in the north, where the League swept up most of the votes on the right. It did better in the south, probably thanks to voters' lingering reluctance to vote for the League.
For similar reasons the far-right Brothers of Italy also performed best in the south and islands, hitting a high of 10 percent in Calabria.
Among Italians voting from overseas, the Democratic Party came top with 31 percent. The League's score was well below its national total at 19 percent, while the Five Star Movement managed just 15 percent.
Emigrants were also more likely to vote for the Greens (10 percent) and +Europa, a progressive pro-European coalition (8 percent). But they shunned right-wing parties Forza Italia (6 percent) and Brothers of Italy (3 percent).
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