2016 Rome municipal election explained

Election Name:2016 Rome municipal election
Flag Image:Flag of Rome.svg
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2013 Rome municipal election
Previous Year:2013
Next Election:2021 Rome municipal election
Next Year:2021
Election Date:5 June 2016 (first round)
19 June 2016 (second round)
Turnout:57.0% 4.2 pp (first round)
50.1% 6.9 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:Virginia Raggi
Party1:M5S
Alliance1:
1Data1:453,806
2Data1:35.25%
3Data1:770,564
4Data1:67.15%
Candidate2:Roberto Giachetti
Party2:PD
Alliance2:Centre-left coalition (Italy)
1Data2:320,170
2Data2:24.87%
3Data2:376,935
4Data2:32.85%
Mayor
Before Election:Francesco Paolo Tronca
(Special commissioner)
After Election:Virginia Raggi
After Party:M5S
Map2 Image:SVG map of the results by municipi of the second round of the 2016 Rome mayoral election.svg
Map Size:200px
Map2 Size:200px
Map2 Caption:Second round results by municipi
Red municipi are those with most votes for Giachetti and Yellow those for Raggi.
Module:
Election Name:City Council election
Embed:yes
Seats For Election:All 48 seats in the Capitoline Assembly
Majority Seats:25
Party2:Centre-left
Percentage2:25.40
Leader2:Roberto Giachetti
Seats2:8
Last Election2:29
Party4:Centre-right
Percentage4:11.30
Leader4:Alfio Marchini
Seats4:4
Last Election4:12
Party1:Five Star Movement
Percentage1:35.32
Leader1:Virginia Raggi
Seats1:29
Last Election1:4
Party3:Right-wing coalition
Percentage3:19.63
Leader3:Giorgia Meloni
Seats3:6
Party5:Left-wing coalition
Percentage5:4.43
Leader5:Stefano Fassina
Seats5:1

Snap municipal elections were held in Rome on 5 and 19 June 2016, to elect the Mayor of Rome and 48 members of the City Council, as well as the fifteen presidents and more than 400 councillors of the 15 municipi in which the municipality is divided.

The elections were called following the fall of the former Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino, who was ousted from office after more than half of the members of the City Council resigned in October 2015.[1]

The first round of voting on 5 June produced no outright winner, resulting in a run-off election on 19 June between Virginia Raggi, the candidate of the Five Star Movement (M5S), and Roberto Giachetti, member of the Democratic Party (PD).[1] Raggi won the mayoral election with two-thirds of the vote,[2] and her party alone won a majority in the City Council of Rome with 29 of the 48 seats.[3]

The results were widely reported as a major breakthrough for the Five Star Movement, which had previously been seen as a protest party rather than a significant political force.[4] [5] At the same round of elections, M5S also won Turin municipal elections.[4]

Background

On 12 October 2015, the incumbent mayor Ignazio Marino announced his resignation amidst an accusation of expense scandal that had been made by some opposition parties (especially Five Star Movement and the right-wing Brothers of Italy), but on 29 October he retired the resignation. Nevertheless, on 30 October he was ousted from his position after 26 of the 48 members of the City Council resigned. The mayorlater was replaced by a government-appointed commissioner and snap municipal elections were called.[6]

Centre-left primary election

As in 2013, the centre-left coalition decided to hold the primary election on 6 March 2016 to decide its mayoral candidate. There were 6 main candidates, all from Democratic Party, since the left-wing parties decided to break the alliance and present their own mayoral candidate.[7]

Among the most popular candidates there were deputies Roberto Giachetti and Roberto Morassut. More than 47,000 citizens took part to the primary election which was won by Giachetti:

CandidateSupported byVotes (%)
Roberto GiachettiPD64%
Roberto MorassutPD28%
Others 8%
Total100%

M5S primary election

As it previously did in different occasion, also the Five Star Movement decided to hold a primary election to choose its mayoral candidate. Many candidates took part in the closed primary which was held online on 23 February 2016. Virginia Raggi, one of four members of the City Council elected for the M5S in 2013, won the primary with 45% of votes.[8]

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 election for the mayor or an indirect election 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.[9]

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.[9]

Parties and candidates

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

Political party or allianceConstituent listsLeader
Left-wing coalitionLeft for Rome
(incl. SEL, PRC, PCdI, AET, POS and FaS)
Stefano Fassina
Fassina for Mayor
Centre-left coalitionRoberto Giachetti
Democrats and Populars
(incl. UDC, CD and DemoS)
Lay Civic Socialists
Five Star MovementVirginia Raggi
Centre-right coalitionAlfio Marchini
Marchini List
Right-wing coalitionGiorgia Meloni
Popular Federation for Freedom
(incl. PpI and NCDU)

Results

Summary of the 2016 Rome City Council and Mayoral election results
Candidates1st round2nd roundLeader's
seat
PartiesVotes%Seats
Votes%Votes%
Virginia Raggi 461,19035.26770,56467.15Five Star Movement420,43535.3229
Roberto Giachetti325,83524.91376,93532.85Democratic Party240,63717.196
Giachetti for Mayor49,4574.151
Democrats and Populars17,3781.46
Radicals Federalists Lay Ecologists14,1651.19
7,7160.64
Federation of the Greens5,8270.49
Italy of Values3,0850.25
bgcolor=pink align=leftTotalbgcolor=pink align=right302,265bgcolor=pink align=right25.40bgcolor=pink align=right7
Giorgia Meloni269,76020.62Brothers of Italy146,05412.274
With Giorgia Meloni for Mayor40,4413.391
League – Us with Salvini32,1752.70
Italian Liberal Party10,7490.90
Popular Federation for Freedom4,1460.34
bgcolor=#6699CC align=leftTotalbgcolor=#6699CC align=right233,565bgcolor=#6699CC align=right19.63bgcolor=#6699CC align=right5
Alfio Marchini143,82910.99Alfio Marchini for Mayor56,6864.762
Forza Italia50,8424.271
Popular Rome15,4531.29
Storace List7,3910.62
Christian Revolution1,7470.14
Liberal Network1,2250.10
Italian Building Site Movement1,1240.09
bgcolor=lightblue align=leftTotalbgcolor=lightblue align=right134,468bgcolor=lightblue align=right11.30bgcolor=lightblue align=right3
Stefano Fassina58,4984.47Left for Rome46,7743.93
Fassina for Mayor6,0060.50
bgcolor=#FA6E79 align=leftTotalbgcolor=#FA6E79 align=right52,780bgcolor=#FA6E79 align=right4.43bgcolor=#FA6E79 align=right
Simone Di Stefano14,8651.13CasaPound14,1181.18
Alessandro Mustillo10,3710.79Communist Party9,9170.83
Dario Di Francesco8,0210.61Talking Cricket List – No Euro4,7720.39
Pensioners' Union1,1310.09
Movement for Rome1,0320.08
Centre League7190.06
With JoyLong Live Italy2810.02
bgcolor= align=leftTotalbgcolor= align=right7,885bgcolor= align=right0.66bgcolor= align=right
Mario Adinolfi7,9920.61The People of Family7,4800.62
Carlo Rienzi2,7600.21Codacons2,5780.21
Alfredo Iorio2,6410.20Fatherland2,5760.21
Fabrizio Verduchi1,3100.10Christian Italy1,1850.09
Michel Emi Maritato8730.06Assotutela878 0.07
Total1,307,945100.001,147,499100.0041,190,130100.0044
Eligible voters100.00100.00
Did not vote42.9749.86
Voted57.0350.14
Blank or invalid ballots2.973.18
Total valid votes97.0396.82
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Municipi election

All the presidents were elected on the second round, since none obtained more than 50% of votes on the first round of voting. The president of Municipio X wasn't elected since the municipio was under the administration of a Special Commissioner nominated after the municipal council had been dissolved in 2015 due to mafia association.

Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the second round:

MunicipioM5SCentre-leftRight-wingElected PresidentParty
I49.250.8Sabrina AlfonsiPD
II48.351.7Francesca Del BelloPD
III62.937.1Roberta CapoccioniM5S
IV68.231.8Roberta Della CasaM5S
V67.832.2Giovanni BoccuzziM5S
VI72.927.1Roberto RomanellaM5S
VII64.835.2Monica LozziM5S
VIII59.140.9Paolo PaceM5S
IX65.035.0Dario D'InnocentiM5S
XMunicipal Council and President suspended
XI61.938.1Mario TorelliM5S
XII56.943.1Silvia CrescimannoM5S
XIII64.735.3Giuseppina Castagnetta M5S
XIV61.938.1Alfredo CampagnaM5S
XV58.641.2Stefano SimonelliM5S
Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service

References

  1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/11/rome-mayoral-elections-raggi-corruption-five-star-movement Rosie Scammell, "Rubbish on the streets, corruption in the air: Rome looks for a clean-up candidate"
  2. News: Five Star Movement candidate Virginia Raggi could become Rome's mayor. 11 June 2016. The Age. 5 June 2016.
  3. Web site: Comunali [Scrutini] Comune di ROMA - Elezioni del 19 giugno 2015 (ballottaggio)]. Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali. Ministero Dell'Interno. 20 June 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160630121606/http://elezioni.interno.it/comunali/scrutini/20160605/G120700900.htm. 30 June 2016.
  4. News: Anti-establishment candidates elected to lead Rome and Turin . Rosie Scamell. The Guardian. 20 June 2016. 20 June 2016.
  5. News: Rome elects first female mayor in breakthrough for Five Star Movement. John Phillips. The Telegraph. 20 June 2016. 20 June 2016.
  6. News: The Holy See cracks down on leaks about its scandalous finances. 7 November 2015. The Economist. 7 November 2015.
  7. News: 8 March 2016. Primarie Pd Roma 2016. I dati definitivi. it. 19 July 2022.
  8. News: 24 February 2016 . Virginia Raggi candidata sindaco di Roma del M5S . it . . 19 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303025426/http://www.panorama.it/news/politica/virginia-raggi-m5s-perche-candidata-sindaco-roma/ . 3 March 2016 . dead.
  9. Web site: ELEZIONI AMMINISTRATIVE 2016 - IL DOSSIER. Ministry of Interior. 20 June 2016. 11 June 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170611130648/http://elezioni.interno.it/contenuti/report/dossier_amministrative_giugno2016.pdf. dead.