Mercede Porcu, a 98-year-old living in Slovenia's western city of Nova Gorica, travelled more than 1,000 kilometres to cast her vote in the recent regional elections in Sardinia, where she comes from. Knowing nothing about her plans, her relatives reported her missing to police in Slovenia.

The story about the lady's extraordinary 'electoral journey' was first broken by the Sardinian newspaper Unione Sarda and then picked up by Primorski Dnevnik, the Trieste-based newspaper of the Slovenian minority in Italy.

The Sardinian paper reported that Porcu was greeted by Mayor Monica Careddu in the town of Decimomannu near Cagliari, southern Sardinia, where she picked up her electoral card.

"I have a voting right and why not exercise it. I am happy to be able to visit my home village again," the 98-year-old was quoted as saying as she returned home for the first time in 25 years.

Born in Decimomannu in 1926, Porcu married a Slovenian soldier from the Sassari Brigade brass band. The couple spent their first years in Decimomannu and their first son was born there. The family then moved to Nova Gorica, where the lady still lives today with her granddaughter.

Her relatives in Slovenia reportedly knew nothing about her plan to turn out in the 25 February election, so they reported her missing. The Slovenian police then notified the Italian Carabinieri of the missing person, but no search campaign was required. The lady flew out to Sardinia and then took a taxi to reach her home town.