Italy's center-left Democratic Party (PD) has faced down a strong challenge from the right-wing Lega party during a widely-watched regional election that firebrand Lega leader Matteo Salvini had hoped could collapse the country's precarious coalition government and precipitate fresh national elections.

Instead, the PD won just over half of the vote in the Emilia-Romagna region, where elections were held Sunday for the governor and regional assembly, with a strong turnout of nearly 68% that dwarfed the comparable figure in 2014.

Lega had campaigned relentlessly in this relatively wealthy portion of north-central Italy, with Salvini and his allies holding several rallies each day, focused on a message of tax-cutting and anti-immigration.

But Lega's gubernatorial candidate Lucia Borgonzoni had failed to match the Democratic Party's high profile governor of the region, Stefano Bonaccini, who proved popular among voters in what has historically been a political heartland for the Italian center-left.

Bonaccini repeatedly criticized Salvini during the campaign for failing to pay attention to local issues, and for his focus on regaining national power.

Salvini stepped down last summer as deputy prime minister and interior minister, when he abruptly collapsed Lega's coalition agreement with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S). At the time, his effort to scupper the government was intended to provoke fresh national elections in which his party looked likely to triumph. But a surprising pact that formed between the M5S and center-left Democratic Party obviated the need for fresh polls.

Now, without an obvious path back to national political power, Salvini has expended huge amounts of time and energy on regional elections, analysts say, to show that his party commands sufficient support up and down Italy to argue that the incumbent government no longer represents the Italian voting public.

Last year Umbria, another traditionally PD-supporting region, was indeed swayed by Salvini's campaign arguments and voted in favor of Lega.

And a Democratic Party loss of Emilia-Romagna, which has voted reliably left of center since World War II, might have prompted some national lawmakers to seriously rethink their already tenuous partnership with M5S.