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Italy's center-right, led by Matteo Salvini's League, has wrested control of the small southern region of Basilicata from the center-left Democratic Party that ran the regional government for nearly a quarter of a century.

Salvini on Monday touted the victory, saying that the League had tripled the number of votes in the region since last year's national election and he was looking ahead to elections for the European parliament in May. "Now to change Europe."

The center-right candidate, Vito Bardo, won 42 percent of the vote, ahead of the center-left's 33 percent. The 5-Star Movement took 20 percent, less than half of the vote registered in last year's national election when it dominated the region.