Rome municipal election, 2008

Rome municipal election, 2008
	April 13–14 and 27-28 2008
	April 13–14 and 27-28 2008
Mayor before election; Walter Veltroni; Democratic Party	Elected Mayor ; Gianni Alemanno; People of Freedom

Municipal elections were held in Rome on 13-14 and 27–28 April 2008, at the same time as Italian general elections. The outgoing Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni (PD), was candidate in the general elections, so he resigned after only two years from the previous municipal election in Rome. The center-right candidate Gianni Alemanno, who was defeated by Veltroni in 2006, faced center-left candidate Francesco Rutelli who was chosen to head his party's list.

Control of the 19 municipi of the Italian capital was also to be decided in the elections. Of these, the center-left controlled 18 and the center-right one. 59 councillors were due to be elected in the City Council.

As a result of the election, Gianni Alemanno was elected on the 2nd round. The center-right controls 36 seats against for the center-left.

Background

Following the defeat of Prodi's government in a January 2008 Senate vote,^[1] Veltroni led the Democratic Party into the April 2008 general election and resigned as Mayor of Rome on 13 February 2008 to concentrate on the campaign.^[2]

Mayoral election

The center-right coalition was led by Gianni Alemanno (PDL), who was heavily defeated by Veltroni in 2006; Alemanno rejected a formal alliance with the far-right party, but his critics emphasized that his victory was greeted by crowds of supporters, among them far right skinheads.^[3]

The center-left coalition was led by the former Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli, who has been mayor of Rome from 1993 to 2001.

The opinion polling were in favor of Rutelli,^[4] but on the second round Alemanno surprise won the election and became the first conservative mayor after the Second World War.

Voting System

The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city with a population higher than 15,000 nhabintants. 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.

For municipi the voting system is the same, not referred to the mayor but to the president of the municipio.

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.

Results


Name	Party	1st Round (April 13–14)	%	2nd Round (April 27–28)	%
Gianni Alemanno	People of Freedom (PDL)	677,350	40.7	783,255	53.7
Francesco Rutelli	Democratic Party (PD)	761,126	45.8	676,472	46.3
Francesco Storace	The Right-Tricolour Flame	55,041	3.3
Luciano Ciocchetti	Union of the Centre (UDC)	52,055	3.1
Serenetta Monti	Independent	43,966	2.6
Franco Grillini	Socialist Party (PSI)	13,604	0.8
Michele Baldi	Independent	13,002	0.7
Mario Baccini	White Rose	12,179	0.7
Dario Di Francesco	Independent	12,041	0.7
Armando Morgia	Critical Left	8,724	0.5
Susanna Capristo	Workers' Communist Party (PCL)	5,011	0.3


Coalition	votes	%	seats	Party	votes	%	seats
Center-right (Alemanno)	606,176	39.62	36	People of Freedom Movement for Autonomy Italian Republican Party Others (3)	559,559 9,185 3,308 34,124	36.58 0.60 0.22 2.23	35 - - 1
Center-left (Rutelli)	733,084	47.92	21	Democratic Party The Left - The Rainbow Italy of Values Italian Radicals Others (7)	520,723 69,079 50,704 10,427 82,151	34.04 4.52 3.31 0.68 5.38	17 2 1 - 1

Notes

↑ Elisabeth Rosenthal, "With Flawed System Unchanged, Italy Sets Elections for April", The New York Times, 7 February 2008.
↑ Steve Scherer, "Veltroni Resigns as Rome Mayor to Take on Berlusconi (Update1)", Bloomberg.com, 13 February 2008.
↑ Squires, Nick (2008-09-08). "Italian politicians 'praise' fascist era of Benito Mussolini". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-03. (in English)
↑ Crespi, 29/02/2008
↑ Italian Ministry of the Interior – 2008.

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[1] Elisabeth Rosenthal, "With Flawed System Unchanged, Italy Sets Elections for April", The New York Times, 7 February 2008.

[2] Steve Scherer, "Veltroni Resigns as Rome Mayor to Take on Berlusconi (Update1)", Bloomberg.com, 13 February 2008.

[fascism-3] Squires, Nick (2008-09-08). "Italian politicians 'praise' fascist era of Benito Mussolini". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-03. (in English)

[4] Crespi, 29/02/2008

[5] Italian Ministry of the Interior – 2008.