1993 Rome municipal election explained

Election Name:1993 Rome municipal election
Flag Image:Flag of Rome.svg
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:Elections in Rome#City Council election, 1989
Previous Year:1989
Next Election:1997 Rome municipal election
Next Year:1997
Election Date:21 November 1993 (first round)
5 December 1993 (second round)
Turnout:78.7% 1.6 pp (first round)
79.9% 1.2 pp (second round)
Module:
Embed:yes
Election Name:Mayoral election
Type:presidential election
1Blank:1st Round vote
2Blank:Percentage
3Blank:2nd Round vote
4Blank:Percentage
Candidate1:Francesco Rutelli
Colour1:D90000
Alliance1:Progressives
1Data1:684,529
2Data1:39.6%
3Data1:955,859
4Data1:53.1%
Candidate2:Gianfranco Fini
Party2:Italian Social Movement
Colour2:000000
Alliance2:
1Data2:619,309
2Data2:35.8%
3Data2:844,030
4Data2:46.9%
Mayor
Before Election:Aldo Camporota
(Special commissioner)
After Election:Francesco Rutelli
After Party:FdV
Module:
Election Name:City Council election
Embed:yes
Seats For Election:All 60 seats in City Council
Majority Seats:31
Party1:Alliance of Progressives
Percentage1:37.21
Leader1:Francesco Rutelli
Seats1:36
Party2:Social Movement
Percentage2:33.42
Leader2:Gianfranco Fini
Seats2:14
Party3:Centrist coalition
Percentage3:14.25
Leader3:Carmelo Caruso
Seats3:6
Party4:Communist Refoundation
Percentage4:8.02
Leader4:Renato Nicolini
Seats4:3
Party5:Others
Seats5:1

Municipal elections were held in Rome on 21 November and 5 December 1993 to elect the Mayor of Rome and 60 members of the City Council.

For the first time under a new local electoral law, enacted on 25 March 1993, citizens could vote to directly elect the Mayor.[1]

As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates – Francesco Rutelli, a former radical deputy at that time one of the most prominent figure of the environmentalist Federation of the Greens (FdV) and Gianfranco Fini, Giorgio Almirante's pupil and national leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) – which Rutelli finally won.[2]

Background

With the Law of 25 March 1993, n. 81 was introduced the direct election of Mayor. In this way the form of government of the city, previously attributed to a parliamentary model, was neared at semi-presidential system. The same law fixed four years term of office for Mayor, later extended to five years.

The first direct-election of the Mayor of Rome took place in a period of changes for the Italian politics: the scandal called Tangentopoli, which highlighted pervasive corruption in the Italian political system, exposed in the 1992 Mani Pulite investigations, led to the collapse of the dominant Christian Democracy party and of its allies in the municipal politics.

Mayoral election

For the first time a leftist coalition, composed by the former-communist Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and some other progressives party, took part in the election, presenting Francesco Rutelli as its mayoral candidate. Rutelli was a young politician who had been a member of the Italian Radicals then a member of the newborn Federation of the Greens.

The main opposition to Rutelli's coalition was represented by the neo-fascist candidate Gianfranco Fini. Fini was a young politician considered the inheritor of Giorgio Almirante's political knowledge in the Italian Social Movement (MSI). Fini and his party were quite popular in Rome: their popularity, originated from the Fascist regime, was increased by the political scandal which had invested the historical Christian Democracy (DC) and Italian Socialist Party (PSI). However Fini's popularity continued after the 1993 election, since all the candidates supported by the center-right coalition in the future elections would have been members of neo-fascist party National Alliance (AN).

Although the political crisis, Christian Democracy (DC) presented its candidate, Carmelo Caruso, who was supported also by the weak Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI).

Many other candidates took part in the election, all of them from very small parties, civic lists or associations. The most famous of this small party was the so-called Love Party, which was in favor of sexuality in a libertarian sense and for this reason decided to present as candidate for Mayor the famous pornstars Moana Pozzi.

The election was distinguished by the active involvement of an unprecedented numbers of Italian nobles as either candidates or supporters, including members of the Barberini, Orsini, Chigi, and Borghese families.

Voting System

The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city with a population higher than 15,000 inhabitants. Under this system voters express a direct choice for the mayor or an indirect choice voting for the party of the candidate's coalition. If no candidate receives 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. This gives a result whereby the winning candidate may be able to claim majority support, although it is not guaranteed.

The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally.

Parties and candidates

This is a list of the major parties (and their respective leaders) which participated in the election.

Political party or allianceConstituent listsCandidate
Gianfranco Fini
ProgressivesFrancesco Rutelli
Centrist coalitionCarmelo Caruso
Renato Nicolini
Lay and Reformist AllianceVittorio Ripa di Meana

Results

Summary of the 1993 Rome City Council and Mayoral election results
Candidates1st round2nd roundLeader's
seat
PartiesVotes%Seats
Votes%Votes%
Francesco Rutelli 684,52939.55955,85953.11Democratic Party of the Left233,92418.1718
Federation of the Greens136,75310.6210
Alliance for Rome63,2714.915
Pannella List45,0823.503
Total479,03037.2136
Gianfranco Fini619,30935.78844,03046.89Italian Social Movement399,59431.0413
Together for Rome 30,684 2.38
Total430,27833.4213
Carmelo Caruso197,80111.43Christian Democracy154,55212.005
Union of the Centre14,3921.12
Italian Democratic Socialist Party11,3330.88
Civilization and Progress 3,1600.25
Total183,43714.255
Renato Nicolini143,3648.28Communist Refoundation Party90,4617.032
Freeing Rome 12,7980.99
Total103,2598.022
Vittorio Ripa di Meana26,0641.51Reformist Lay Alliance (PSIPRI)30,8182.39
Maria Ida Germontani11,7700.68Federal Italy League13,7261.07
Antonio Pappalardo9,5270.55Solidarity and Democracy 9,5570.74
Laura Scalabrini9,1640.53Federalist Greens10,5310.82
Moana Pozzi8,9770.52Love Party7,228 0.56
Giulio Savelli4,1980.24Independent Movement for Rome 3,3730.26
Federica Rossi Gasparrini4,0750.24New Italy4,6850.36
Gabriella Carlizzi3,9980.23Christian Party of Democracy3,409 0.26
Mirella Cece2,0020.12European Liberal Christian Movement 2,0960.16
Rosario Caccamo1,9480.11People's Movement for Man
and the Environment
1,8610.14
Carlo Olivieri1,590 0.09Humanist Alliance1,4850.12
Pier Vittorio Fiorelli1,5190.09Rights and Duties1,8590.14
Rosanna Bartolomei8820.05Corporatist Democracy 8960.07
Total1,730,717100.001,799,889100.004align=right colspan=21,287,528100.0056
Eligible voters100.00100.00
Did not vote21.2620.15
Voted78.7479.85
Blank or invalid ballots5.142.72
Total valid votes94.8697.28
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Notes and References

  1. News: 21 November 1993. Elezioni, è la prova generale. it. La Stampa. 11 April 2021.
  2. News: 6 December 1993. Ha vinto la sinistra, sconfitti MSI e Lega. it. La Stampa. 11 April 2021.