Vote in a small Italian region seen as 1st coalition test

Voting for governor of Italy’s small Umbria region is being watched as a first electoral test of the country’s uneasy coalition of governing parties.

The two main parties in Premier Giuseppe Conte’s new government, the populist 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party, teamed up in a campaign alliance for the Umbria governorship. A scandal in the regional public health care system weakened the outgoing Democratic governor.

Anti-migrant opposition leader Matteo Salvini hopes his right-wing League party triumphs in Sunday’s vote.

If the national coalition parties do poorly in Umbria, it’s unlikely they will team up for elections in more populous regions next year.

Rival Democratic and 5-Star leaders backed Conte this year to sabotage Salvini’s maneuvers for early national elections.