| Election Name: | 2021 Bologna municipal election |
| Country: | Bologna |
| Type: | legislative |
| Previous Election: | 2016 Bologna municipal election |
| Previous Year: | 2016 |
| Election Date: | 3–4 October 2021 |
| Candidate1: | Matteo Lepore |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (Italy) |
| Colour1: | EF3E3E |
| Alliance1: | Centre-left coalition (Italy) |
| Popular Vote1: | 94,565 |
| Percentage1: | 61.9% |
| Seats1: | 25 |
| Candidate2: | Fabio Battistini |
| Party2: | Independent politician |
| Colour2: | 0A6BE1 |
| Alliance2: | Centre-right coalition (Italy) |
| Popular Vote2: | 45,282 |
| Percentage2: | 29.6% |
| Seats2: | 11 |
| Mayor | |
| Before Election: | Virginio Merola |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (Italy) |
| After Election: | Matteo Lepore |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (Italy) |
The municipal elections in Bologna took place on 3 and 4 October 2021. The incumbent Mayor of Bologna was Virginio Merola of Democratic Party, who won the 2016 Bologna municipal election. The centre-left candidate Matteo Lepore won in a landslide with 62% of votes, becoming the most voted mayor since the introduction of direct elections in 1995.[1]
The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the cities 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 during the first round, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. The winning candidate obtains a majority bonus equal to 60% of seats. During the first round, if no candidate gets more than 50% of votes but a coalition of lists gets the majority of 50% of votes or if the mayor is elected in the first round but its coalition gets less than 40% of the valid votes, the majority bonus cannot be assigned to the coalition of the winning mayor candidate.
The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a maximum of two preferential votes, each for a different gender, belonging to the same party list: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally, using D'Hondt seat allocation. Only coalitions with more than 3% of votes are eligible to get any seats.[2]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matteo Lepore | Democratic Party | 15,750 | 59.6% | [3] | |
| Isabella Conti | Italia Viva | 10,672 | 40.4% | [4] | |
| Total | 26,422 | 100% | |||
This is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which will participate in the election.[24]
| Political force or alliance | Constituent lists | Candidate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre-left coalition | Democratic Party | Matteo Lepore | |||
| Matteo Lepore for Mayor | |||||
| Civic Coalition for Bologna (incl. SI, Art.1, Pos, èViva) | |||||
| You Also Count (incl. IV, +E) | |||||
| Green Europe | |||||
| Italian Socialist Party – Volt | |||||
| Centre-right coalition | Forza Italia – Union of the Centre | Fabio Battistini | |||
| Battistini for Mayor – We like Bologna (incl. È, NcI) | |||||
| Power to the People | Marta Collot | ||||
| Stefano Sermenghi for Mayor | Italexit (incl. Vox Italy) | Stefano Sermenghi | |||
| BFC – Bologna Civic Forum | |||||
| 3V Movement | Andrea Tosatto | ||||
| United Left for Bologna (incl. PRC, PCI) | Dora Palumbo | ||||
| Luca Labanti | |||||
| Workers' Communist Party | Federico Bacchiocchi | ||||
| Date | Polling firm/ Client | Sample size | Lepore | Battistini | Others | Undecided | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 61.9 | 29.6 | 8.5 | - | 32.3 | ||
| 12–15 Sep 2021 | Noto | 1,000 | 60.0 | 34.0 | 6.0 | 22.0 | 36.0 |
| 7–10 Sep 2021 | Quorum | 805 | 59.5 | 32.1 | 8.4 | 42.0 | 27.4 |
| 3–8 Sep 2021 | Quorum | 806 | 60.1 | 32.5 | 4.0–8.0 | 7.4 | 27.6 |
| 7 Sep 2021 | Opinio | 58.0 | 37.0 | 6.0 | 17.4 | 21.0 | |
| 24–26 Aug 2021 | BiDiMedia | 822 | 63.5 | 28.0 | 8.5 | 26.0 | 35.5 |
| 13–18 Aug 2021 | Winpoll | 800 | 61.6 | 27.1 | 11.3 | 34.5 | |
| 17 Aug 2021 | Opinio | 57.0 | 38.0 | 5.0 | 19.0 | ||
| 3–5 Aug 2021 | Demopolis | 1,502 | 49.0 | 36.0 | 15.0 | 38.0 | 13.0 |
| Date | Polling firm | Sample size | Centre-left | Centre-right | Others | Undecided | Lead | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PD | M5S | CC | +E–IV | Other | Lega | FI | FdI | Other | ||||||
| - | 36.5 | 3.4 | 7.3 | 5.7 | 10.1 | 7.7 | 3.8 | 12.6 | 4.9 | 7.9 | - | 23.9 | ||
| 3–8 Sep 2021 | Quorum | 806 | 40.8 | 8.1 | 11.2 | 16.3 | 5.8 | 11.9 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 34.7 | 24.5 | ||
| 24–26 Aug 2021 | BiDiMedia | 822 | 35.9 | 5.1 | 10.4 | 5.3 | 7.1 | 8.3 | 3.5 | 13.6 | 2.7 | 8.1 | 23.0 | 24.8 |
| 19–24 Apr 2021 | BiDiMedia | 1,338 | 33.2 | 1.9 | 12.0 | 10.7 | 9.6 | 3.1 | 11.1 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 6.1 | 26.0 | 22.1 |
| 16–19 Sep 2020 | Quorum | 1,010 | 38.6 | 3.0 | 9.4 | 4.1 | 18.9 | 18.9 | 8.3 | 5.6 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 40.0 | 19.7 |
| – | 35.5 | 16.6 | 13.4 | 10.3 | 6.3 | 2.4 | 14.3 | 1.4 | – | 18.9 | ||||
| Candidates | 1st round | Leader's seats | Parties | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ||||||||||
| Matteo Lepore | 94,565 | 61.90 | – | Democratic Party | 53,486 | 36.50 | 16 | ||||
| Civic Coalition for Bologna | 10,722 | 7.32 | 3 | ||||||||
| Matteo Lepore for Mayor | 9,303 | 6.35 | 3 | ||||||||
| You Also Count | 8,376 | 5.72 | 2 | ||||||||
| Five Star Movement | 4,938 | 3.37 | 1 | ||||||||
| Green Europe | 4,113 | 2.81 | 1 | ||||||||
| Italian Socialist Party – Volt | 1,335 | 0.91 | – | ||||||||
| Total | 92,273 | 62.96 | 25 | ||||||||
| Fabio Battistini | 45,282 | 29.64 | 1 | Brothers of Italy | 18,514 | 12.63 | 5 | ||||
| League | 11,346 | 7.74 | 3 | ||||||||
| Battistini For Mayor | 6,640 | 4.53 | 1 | ||||||||
| Forza Italia – Union of the Centre | 5,561 | 3.79 | 1 | ||||||||
| The People of Family | 598 | 0.41 | – | ||||||||
| Total | 42,659 | 29.11 | 10 | ||||||||
| Marta Collot | 3,801 | 2.49 | – | Power to the People | 3,355 | 2.29 | – | ||||
| Stefano Sermenghi | 3,053 | 2.00 | – | BFC – Bologna Civic Forum | 1,599 | 1.09 | – | ||||
| Italexit – Civic List for Bologna | 1,075 | 0.73 | – | ||||||||
| Total | 2,674 | 1.82 | – | ||||||||
| Andrea Tosatto | 2,497 | 1.63 | – | 3V Movement | 2,428 | 1.66 | – | ||||
| Dora Palumbo | 2,433 | 1.59 | – | United Left – Communist Refoundation – PCI | 2,144 | 1.46 | – | ||||
| Federico Bacchiocchi | 625 | 0.41 | – | Workers' Communist Party | 597 | 0.41 | – | ||||
| Luca Labanti | 508 | 0.33 | – | August 24th Movement | 423 | 0.29 | – | ||||
| Total | 152.764 | 100.00 | 1 | 146,553 | 100.00 | 35 | |||||
| Source: Ministry of the Interior | |||||||||||
Notes: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, he/she is automatically elected communal councilor (Battistini); see Italian electoral law of 1993 for Comuni. The candidate elected Mayor is not a member of communal council, but Merola votes in the communal council (see Italian electoral law 1993).