2008 Rome municipal election
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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
| Rome Mayoral Election Results 2008 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Party | 1st Round (April 13–14) |
% | 2nd Round (April 27–28) |
% | |||
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 #EF1C27 || 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
| Rome Council Election 2008 - Parties [5] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coalition | votes | % | seats | Party | votes | % | seats | |
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. Template:En icon
- ^ [1] Crespi, 29/02/2008
- ^ [2] Italian Ministry of the Interior – 2008.