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Italians vote in 2 regions; Salvini eyes return to power

Right-wing opposition leader Matteo Salvini is telling Italians who are voting in two regions to use their ballots to help his anti-migrant party return to national power.

Voting began Sunday morning in Emilia-Romagna, a northern region where the left-wing has held power for decades, and in Calabria, in the south, an area Salvini's League party once disparaged as unproductive but where it now wants to expand a foothold.

Results, expected early Monday, of the voting for governor and regional legislatures could rock Italy's squabbling central government in Rome.

Maurizio Gasparri, president of the Senate commission on parliamentary immunity talks to reporters after the commission voted to lift immunity to Lega party leader Matteo Salvini to put him on trial for alleged kidnapping for keeping migrants aboard a rescue ship when he was interior minister, in Rome, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. Salvini insists he acted to safeguard Italy's borders when he refused for six days to allow the coast guard ship Gregoretti bring 131 rescued migrants ashore to Sicily in July 2019. (Roberto MonaldoLaPresse via AP)

Salvini is demanding an early election to end Premier Giuseppe Conte's coalition government, whose junior partner is the center-left Democrats. Left-wing forces have ruled Emilia-Romagna for decades and a loss there could weaken the Democratic Party's leverage in Conte's government.

The senior party in Conte's government is the populist 5-Star Movement, which has been plagued by infighting and defections.

Salvini in a Facebook post told Italians as they headed to vote to “liberate these splendid regions” from the Democrats and then “let's free the entire country.”

Matteo Salvini of the League speaks to supporters during a campaign event in Bibbiano, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, as Northern League Senator Lucia Borgonzoni listens on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (Stefano CavicchiLaPresse via AP)

Salvini, who in Conte's previous government took a hard line against immigration, lost his job and his right-wing party lost its place in government last year when the League leader yanked his support in a failed bid for an early election. Conte then formed a government with the Democrats.

From left, Silvio Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini , Giorgia Meloni, Lucia Borgonzoni and Vittorio Sgarbi hold their final electoral rally in Ravenna, Italy, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. Matteo Salvini is betting that the road to Rome runs through Emilia-Romagna. The right-wing populist leader is campaigning hard for his League to take control of the wealthy northern region that has been a left-wing stronghold since World War II. (Stefano CavicchiLaPresse via AP)

League's leader Matteo Salvini meets people during a campaign rally in view of the upcoming local elections in the Emilia Romagna region, in Comacchio, Italy, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. A Senate commission on parliamentary immunity voted to lift immunity Salvini to put him on trial for alleged kidnapping for keeping migrants aboard a rescue ship when he was interior minister, but nothing is definite, since the whole Senate must decide on immunity in February. (Stefano CavicchiLaPresse via AP)