# 2016 Rome municipal election

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.
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). Raggi won the mayoral election with two-thirds of the vote, and her party alone won a majority in the City Council of Rome with 29 of the 48 seats.
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. At the same round of elections, M5S also won Turin municipal elections.

## 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.

### 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.
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:
| Candidate | Candidate | Supported by | Votes (%) |
| | Roberto Giachetti | PD | 64% |
| | Roberto Morassut | PD | 28% |
| | Others | Others | 8% |
| Total | Total | Total | 100% |

### 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.

## 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.
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.

## Parties and candidates

This is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which participated in the election.
| Political party or alliance | Constituent lists | Constituent lists | Leader |
| Left-wing coalition | | Left for Rome (incl. SEL, PRC, PCdI, AET, POS and FaS) | Stefano Fassina |
| Left-wing coalition | | Fassina for Mayor | Stefano Fassina |
| Centre-left coalition | | Democratic Party | Roberto Giachetti |
| Centre-left coalition | | Democrats and Populars (incl. UDC, CD and DemoS) | Roberto Giachetti |
| Centre-left coalition | | Federation of the Greens | Roberto Giachetti |
| Centre-left coalition | | Italy of Values | Roberto Giachetti |
| Centre-left coalition | | Radicals Federalists Lay Ecologists | Roberto Giachetti |
| Centre-left coalition | | Lay Civic Socialists | Roberto Giachetti |
| Five Star Movement | Five Star Movement | Five Star Movement | Virginia Raggi |
| Centre-right coalition | | Forza Italia | Alfio Marchini |
| Centre-right coalition | | Marchini List | Alfio Marchini |
| Centre-right coalition | | Popular Rome | Alfio Marchini |
| Centre-right coalition | | Storace List | Alfio Marchini |
| Right-wing coalition | | Brothers of Italy | Giorgia Meloni |
| Right-wing coalition | | League – Us with Salvini | Giorgia Meloni |
| Right-wing coalition | | Italian Liberal Party | Giorgia Meloni |
| Right-wing coalition | | Popular Federation for Freedom (incl. PpI and NCDU) | Giorgia Meloni |

## Results

Summary of the 2016 Rome City Council and Mayoral election results :
| Candidates | Candidates | 1st round | 1st round | 2nd round | 2nd round | Leader's seat | Parties | Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
| Candidates | Candidates | Votes | % | Votes | % | Leader's seat | Parties | Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
| | Virginia Raggi | 461,190 | 35.26 | 770,564 | 67.15 | – | | Five Star Movement | 420,435 | 35.32 | 29 |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Democratic Party | 240,637 | 17.19 | 6 |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Giachetti for Mayor | 49,457 | 4.15 | 1 |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Democrats and Populars | 17,378 | 1.46 | – |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Radicals Federalists Lay Ecologists | 14,165 | 1.19 | – |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Lay Civic Socialists | 7,716 | 0.64 | – |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Federation of the Greens | 5,827 | 0.49 | – |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Italy of Values | 3,085 | 0.25 | – |
| | Roberto Giachetti | 325,835 | 24.91 | 376,935 | 32.85 | Y | | Total | 302,265 | 25.40 | 7 |
| | Giorgia Meloni | 269,760 | 20.62 | – | – | Y | | Brothers of Italy | 146,054 | 12.27 | 4 |
| | Giorgia Meloni | 269,760 | 20.62 | – | – | Y | | With Giorgia Meloni for Mayor | 40,441 | 3.39 | 1 |
| | Giorgia Meloni | 269,760 | 20.62 | – | – | Y | | League – Us with Salvini | 32,175 | 2.70 | – |
| | Giorgia Meloni | 269,760 | 20.62 | – | – | Y | | Italian Liberal Party | 10,749 | 0.90 | – |
| | Giorgia Meloni | 269,760 | 20.62 | – | – | Y | | Popular Federation for Freedom | 4,146 | 0.34 | – |
| | Giorgia Meloni | 269,760 | 20.62 | – | – | Y | | Total | 233,565 | 19.63 | 5 |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Alfio Marchini for Mayor | 56,686 | 4.76 | 2 |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Forza Italia | 50,842 | 4.27 | 1 |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Popular Rome | 15,453 | 1.29 | – |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Storace List | 7,391 | 0.62 | – |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Christian Revolution | 1,747 | 0.14 | – |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Liberal Network | 1,225 | 0.10 | – |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Italian Building Site Movement | 1,124 | 0.09 | – |
| | Alfio Marchini | 143,829 | 10.99 | – | – | Y | | Total | 134,468 | 11.30 | 3 |
| | Stefano Fassina | 58,498 | 4.47 | – | – | Y | | Left for Rome | 46,774 | 3.93 | – |
| | Stefano Fassina | 58,498 | 4.47 | – | – | Y | | Fassina for Mayor | 6,006 | 0.50 | – |
| | Stefano Fassina | 58,498 | 4.47 | – | – | Y | | Total | 52,780 | 4.43 | – |
| | Simone Di Stefano | 14,865 | 1.13 | – | – | – | | CasaPound | 14,118 | 1.18 | – |
| | Alessandro Mustillo | 10,371 | 0.79 | – | – | – | | Communist Party | 9,917 | 0.83 | – |
| | Dario Di Francesco | 8,021 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | Talking Cricket List – No Euro | 4,772 | 0.39 | – |
| | Dario Di Francesco | 8,021 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | Pensioners' Union | 1,131 | 0.09 | – |
| | Dario Di Francesco | 8,021 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | Movement for Rome | 1,032 | 0.08 | – |
| | Dario Di Francesco | 8,021 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | Centre League | 719 | 0.06 | – |
| | Dario Di Francesco | 8,021 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | With Joy! Long Live Italy | 281 | 0.02 | – |
| | Dario Di Francesco | 8,021 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | Total | 7,885 | 0.66 | – |
| | Mario Adinolfi | 7,992 | 0.61 | – | – | – | | The People of the Family | 7,480 | 0.62 | – |
| | Carlo Rienzi | 2,760 | 0.21 | – | – | – | | Codacons | 2,578 | 0.21 | – |
| | Alfredo Iorio | 2,641 | 0.20 | – | – | – | | Fatherland | 2,576 | 0.21 | – |
| | Fabrizio Verduchi | 1,310 | 0.10 | – | – | – | | Christian Italy | 1,185 | 0.09 | – |
| | Michel Emi Maritato | 873 | 0.06 | – | – | – | | Assotutela | 878 | 0.07 | – |
| Total | Total | 1,307,945 | 100.00 | 1,147,499 | 100.00 | 4 | | | 1,190,130 | 100.00 | 44 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 2,363,776 | 100.00 | 2,363,776 | 100.00 | | | | | | |
| Did not vote | Did not vote | 1,015,736 | 42.97 | 1,178,496 | 49.86 | | | | | | |
| Voted | Voted | 1,348,040 | 57.03 | 1,185,280 | 50.14 | | | | | | |
| Blank or invalid ballots | Blank or invalid ballots | 40,095 | 2.97 | 37,781 | 3.18 | | | | | | |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 1,307,945 | 97.03 | 1,147,499 | 96.82 | | | | | | |
| 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:
| Municipio | M5S | Centre-left | Right-wing | Elected President | Party |
| I | 49.2 | 50.8 | – | Sabrina Alfonsi | PD |
| II | 48.3 | 51.7 | – | Francesca Del Bello | PD |
| III | 62.9 | 37.1 | – | Roberta Capoccioni | M5S |
| IV | 68.2 | 31.8 | – | Roberta Della Casa | M5S |
| V | 67.8 | 32.2 | – | Giovanni Boccuzzi | M5S |
| VI | 72.9 | – | 27.1 | Roberto Romanella | M5S |
| VII | 64.8 | 35.2 | – | Monica Lozzi | M5S |
| VIII | 59.1 | 40.9 | – | Paolo Pace | M5S |
| IX | 65.0 | 35.0 | – | Dario D'Innocenti | M5S |
| X | Municipal Council and President suspended | Municipal Council and President suspended | Municipal Council and President suspended | Municipal Council and President suspended | Municipal Council and President suspended |
| XI | 61.9 | 38.1 | – | Mario Torelli | M5S |
| XII | 56.9 | 43.1 | – | Silvia Crescimanno | M5S |
| XIII | 64.7 | 35.3 | – | Giuseppina Castagnetta | M5S |
| XIV | 61.9 | 38.1 | – | Alfredo Campagna | M5S |
| XV | 58.6 | 41.2 | – | Stefano Simonelli | M5S |
Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service