Exit polls released on Monday after the end of voting in a round of local elections in a number of Italian towns and cities put centre-left and progressive coalitions ahead in several of the key battles.
Progressive candidate Silvia Salis was in front in the biggest battle, in Genoa, with between 53% and 57% of the vote, according to a Consorzio Opinio Italia poll for State broadcaster Rai.
Support for centre-right candidate Pietro Piciocchi was put at between 38% and 42%.
The centre-left is set to hold Ravenna with a victory in the first round, without the need for a runoff, according to a Consorzio Opinio Italia poll for Rai that put its candidate Alessandro Barattoni on 61-65%, compared to 21.5-25.5% for his closest rival, Nicola Grandi, who was backed by Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's Forza Italia.
In Matera, Roberto Cifarelli, a candidate backed by a 'reformist' coalition, was ahead with between 44.5% and 48.5%, followed by the centre-right mayoral candidate Antonio Nicoletti on 31.5-35.5%.
