Elections in Milan

City Council election, 1914

The election took place on June 14, 1914.

This were the first sourced elections in Milan.

City Council election, 1920

The election took place on November 7, 1920.

City Council election, 1922

The election took place on December 10, 1922.

This will be the last democratic election until the establishment of Fascist dictatorship.

City Council election, 1946

The first democratic election after the fall of fascism took place on April 7, 1946.

After the defeat of the Nazis forces on April 25, 1945, Socialist politician Antonio Greppi had been appointed as Provisional Mayor by the National Liberation Committee under approval of the United Nations military government. When the authority of the Italian government was restored on January 1, 1946, local elections were called in Northern Italy.

Proportional representation and Westminster system were the principles chosen to restore municipal democracy in Italy. After the clear Socialist victory, Antonio Greppi was confirmed mayor by the new City Council, and an executive board of municipal unity was formed: the alliance between PSI, DC and PCI ruled Milan as it ruled Italy at time.

City Council election, 1951

The second post-war election took place on May 27, 1951.

Political situation had deeply changed during the previous five years. A new social-democratic party had broken away from the Socialist Party, and the alliances of anti-fascist unity had ended both at national and at local level. The Communist Party had left the administration of Milan in 1949, as the remaining Socialist Party had moved to a position of abstention. Antonio Greppi had joined the Social-democratic group and formed a new alliance with the DC, the PLI and the PRI.

In 1951 Alcide De Gasperi's government changed the local electoral law to a block voting system, to ensure the leadership of its local administrations: two thirds of the seats would be ensured to the winning coalition, abolishing the proportional representation.

The national government coalition obtained an absolute majority with a 53% of suffrages, which was changed into a 66% of seats by the electoral law. However Greppi, who had unsuccessfully called for a coalition of Socialist unity between the PSDI and the PSI, was fired by the DC. Virgilio Ferrari, a Social-democratic activist, so became the new mayor.

City Council election, 1956

The election took place on May 27, 1956.

For this election there was a different electoral law: after Alcide De Gasperi's government had retired in 1953 the 1951-electoral law based on a block voting system, the previous electoral law was restored.

Christian Democracy obtained the 30% of suffrages, while the Italian Socialist Party the 20% of the votes gaining 6% more than the 1951-election. Virgilio Ferrari was confirmed mayor by the majority of the City Council.

City Council election, 1960

The election took place on November 6, 1960.

This election was anticipated by the effect of a new law which ordered a new 4 years-term legislature.

Christian Democracy obtained the 29% of suffrages, while the Italian Socialist Party the 20% of the votes. Gino Cassinis (PSDI) was elected mayor by the majority of the City Council.

City Council election, 1964

The election took place on November 22, 1964.

Christian Democracy obtained the 24% of suffrages, while the Italian Socialist Party the 15% of the votes, losing a lot of votes and becoming the fourth party. However Pietro Bucalossi (PSDI), who succeeded Cassinis in January, was confirmed mayor by the majority of the City Council.

City Council election, 1970

The election took place on June 7, 1970.

This election took place after six years from the last and simultaneously with the first regional elections of Lombardy.

Christian Democracy obtained the 26% of suffrages, while the Italian Communist Party the 22% of the votes. However the socialist Aldo Aniasi was confirmed mayor by the majority of the City Council.

City Council election, 1975

The election took place on June 15, 1975.

Similarly to the national vote, the Italian Communist Party became for the first time in the history the first party with the 30% of the votes. This extraordinary result led to the birth of the first red-giunta in the history of the city: the new coalition was formed by the leftist Socialist and Communist Party, while Aldo Aniasi was reconfirmed mayor by the majority of the City Council. However, in 1976 the socialist Carlo Tognoli was elected new mayor.

The fascist Italian Social Movement became the fourth party with the 7% of the votes.

City Council election, 1980

The election took place on June 8, 1980.

For the second time the Italian Communist Party was the first party with the 26% of the votes. Carlo Tognoli was reconfirmed as mayor.

City Council election, 1985

The election took place on May 12, 1985.

Another time the Italian Communist Party was narrowly confirmed as the first party in the city with the 24% of the votes. Carlo Tognoli was reconfirmed for the first time as mayor but by a new center-left coalition, composed by Christian Democracy and the Italian Socialist Party.

Sunday, May 12, 1985. Source:

City Council election, 1990

The election took place on May 6, 1990.

Christian Democracy became the first party in the city with the 20% of the votes. The newborn regionalist party Lega Nord became the fourth party with the 13% of the votes. The socialist Paolo Pillitteri was reconfirmed as mayor.

Mayoral and City Council election, 1993

The election took place in two rounds: the first on June 6 and the second on June 20, 1993.

For the first time under the new electoral law citizens could vote directly the mayor; before, this choice was made by the City Council.

After gaining 11 seats in the City Council in 1990 election, for the first time the newborn separatist Lega Nord presented its own mayoral candidate: the partisan and lawyer Marco Formentini. Formentini was a former socialist, politically a left-wing, and for this reason a strong candidate in a city like Milan, historically close to leftist ideas but at the same time attracted by the new proposals of the Lega Nord party. The resentment against Rome's centralism (with the famous slogan Roma ladrona, which loosely means "Rome big thief") and the Italian government, common in northern Italy as many northerners felt that the government wasted resources collected mostly from northerners' taxes, was very strong^[1] and resentment against illegal immigrants was widespread. Finally, the Tangentopoli corruption scandals, which started right in Milan and invested most of the established parties, were unveiled from 1992 on and broke the traditional link between the city and the powerful milanese Socialist Party. Then a Lega Nord candidate in Milan was not considered a conservative also because the lombard wing and, more broadly, the bulk of the original Lega Lombarda has tended to be the left-wing of the party. More of the members of the Lega Lombarda hailed from the far-left of the political spectrum, having been active in the Italian Communist Party, il manifesto movement, the Party of Proletarian Unity, Proletarian Democracy and the Greens,^[2][3] and conceived Lega Nord as a centre-left (and, to some extent, social-democratic) political force.^[4][5]

The main opposition to Formentini was represented by Nando Dalla Chiesa, son of the general Carlo Alberto, killed by the Mafia in 1982. Dalla Chiesa was instead the candidate of a center-left coalition composed by the ex-communist Democratic Party of the Left and some other progressives party (such as the new-born Federation of the Greens and the Communist Refoundation Party).

Although Dalla Chiesa was seen as a man outside the old corrupted parties, Formentini won the election on the second round gaining the support of the moderate and centrist voters of the agonizing Christian Democracy party. On June 20, 1993 Formentini won the election and became the first directly elected mayor of Milan.

Mayoral and City Council election, 1997

The election took place in two rounds: the first on April 27 and the second on May 11, 1997.

The main candidates were Gabriele Albertini, supported by Silvio Berlusconi's coalition Pole of Freedoms and by some Christian-democratic parties, and Aldo Fumagalli, supported by the center-left governmental coalition.

After only 4 years in office, the incumbent mayor Marco Formentini polled in third place and thus did not go through to the runoff second round of voting. His defeat in favor of Silvio Berlusconi's candidate was seen as a consequence of Lega Nord's decision to withdraw from the center-right alliance with Berlusconi.

Summary of the 1997 Milan City Council election results

Mayoral and City Council election, 2001

The election took place on May 13, 2001, at the same time as Italian general elections.

The incumbent mayor Gabriele Albertini, supported by Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition, defeated Sandro Antoniazzi, supported by the center-left coalition.

Summary of the 2001 Milan City Council election results

Mayoral and City Council election, 2006

The election took place on May 28–29, 2006.

The main candidates were the incumbent Minister of Public Education Letizia Moratti and Bruno Ferrante, supported by Romano Prodi's center-left coalition The Union.

Letizia Moratti won the election on the first round and became the first female mayor of Milan.

Summary of the 2006 Milan City Council election results

Mayoral and City Council election, 2011

In the first round of elections, on 15–16 May 2011, Pisapia got 48% of the votes and Moratti 41%. As none of them exceeded 50%, a second face-to-face round was scheduled for 29–30 May. This first success of Pisapia was one of a number of successes of the left wing in several other cities and provinces. With the campaign reaching ever harsher tones than before, Pisapia finally won on 30 May, with 55% of the votes.^[6] Internet and social networks played a relevant role in the election of Pisapia.^[7][8][9]

The candidate of Beppe Grillo's party Five Star Movement, Mattia Calise, who was only 20 years old, obtained nearly 3.5% of the votes.

Summary of the 2011 Milan City Council election results

Mayoral and City Council election, 2016

Summary of the 2016 Milan City Council election results