Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing allies have kept control of the small southern region of Basilicata, election results on Monday showed, defeating their centre-left opponents by a wide margin. Meloni's bloc had already retained control of the central Abruzzo region in another vote last month, and the triumph in Basilicata provides the prime minister with another boost ahead of a key election for the European Union parliament due in June. With most of the ballots counted, the centre-right incumbent governor Vito Bardi had secured around 58% of the vote, while the main opposition candidate -- supported by the centre-left Democratic Party and the 5-Star Movement -- took just over 40%.