1993 Rome municipal election

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

1993 Rome mayoral election

21 November 1993
and 5 December 1993
Turnout78.7% (first round)
79.9% (second round)
 
Candidate Francesco Rutelli Gianfranco Fini
Party Greens Social Movement
Popular vote 684,529 619,309
Percentage 39.6% 35.8%
Popular vote (2nd) 955,859 844,030
Percentage (2nd) 53.1% 46.9%

Mayor before election

Franco Carraro

Elected Mayor

Francesco Rutelli

For the first time under the new electoral law the citizens could vote directly the mayor.

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.

Results

Candidate Party Coalition First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Francesco Rutelli FdV Alliance of Progressives 684,529 39.55 955,859 53.11
Gianfranco Fini MSI 619,309 35.78 844,030 46.89
Carmelo Caruso DC DC-PSDI 197,801 11.43
Renato Nicolini PRC 143,364 8.28
Others 85,714 4.63
Eligible voters 2,317,077 100.00 2,317,077 100.00
Voted 1,824,541 78.74 1,850,290 79.85
Blank or invalid ballots 93,824 50,401
Total valid votes 1,730,717 1,799,889

Summary of the 1993 Rome City Council election results

 
Parties and coalitions Votes % Seats
Democratic Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra) PDS 233,92418.2%18
Federation of the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi) FdV 136,75310.6%10
Democratic Alliance (Alleanza Democratica) AD 63,2714.9%5
Pannella List (Lista Pannella) LP 45,0823.5%3
Rutelli coalition (Left) 479,03037.2%36
Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano) MSI 430,27833.4%14
Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana) DC 154,55212.0%6
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (Partito Socialdemocratico Italiano) PSDI 11,3330.9%0
Others 17,5521.4%0
Caruso coalition (Centre) 183,43714.3%6
Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista) PRC 103,2598.0%3
Lay and Reformist Alliance (Alleanza Laica e Riformista) ALR 30,8182.4%1
Others 60,7064.7%0
Total 1,287,528100%60
Votes cast / turnout 1,824,54178.7%
Registered voters 2,317,077
Source: Ministry of the Interior

References

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