# 2016 Milan municipal election

Municipal elections were held in Milan on 5 and 19 June 2016 to elect the Mayor and the 48 members of the City Council, as well as the nine presidents and 270 councillors of the nine administrative zones in which the municipality is divided, each one having one president and 30 councillors.
Incumbent Mayor Giuliano Pisapia choose not to run for re-election for a second term in office.
As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates – Giuseppe Sala, an independent business executive and Milan Expo 2015 CEO, close to the Democratic Party (PD), and Stefano Parisi, former CEO of the telecommunication company Fastweb close to Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) – which Sala won by a narrow margin.
The new Mayor was also appointed by law as general Mayor of the former Province of Milan now called Metropolitan City of Milan.

## Background
### Centre-left primary election

On 22 March 2015, the incumbent Mayor Giuliano Pisapia announced that he had chosen not to run for re-election in 2016 for a second term in office. Following Pisapia's decision, the ruling centre-left coalition decided to call an open primary election to choose a new mayoral candidate.
Four people registered to be candidates in this election: Giuseppe Sala, business executive and Milan Expo 2015 CEO; Francesca Balzani, deputy mayor, responsible for Budget in the Milan's municipal government and former MEP; Pierfrancesco Majorino, responsible for Social Equalities in the municipal government of the city; Antonio Iannetta, former president of UISP (Italian Sport Union for Everyone).
The election took place on 6–7 February 2016:
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Giuseppe Sala | Independent | 25,600 | 42.33 |
| | Francesca Balzani | PD | 20,516 | 33.92 |
| | Pierfrancesco Majorino | PD | 13,916 | 23.01 |
| | Antonio Iannetta | Independent | 443 | 0.73 |
| Total | Total | Total | 60,475 | 100.00 |
Total voters: 60,900

### Centre-right candidacy

On 10 February 2016, Stefano Parisi, former City manager of Milan (1997-2001), announced his acceptance to become the centre-right coalition candidate for the mayoral election, a role proposed to him by the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Parisi is also the former CEO of the telecommunication company Fastweb; Parisi in last 2015 was the manager of Corrado Passera's early mayoral campaign for their party, Unique Italy: Passera retired to run for Major when Parisi resigned after a meeting with Berlusconi.

### Others

On 8 November 2015, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement choose its own candidate with a closed primary election. The 52-year-old unemployed activist Patrizia Bedori was chosen as official mayoral candidate. On that date no official data were provided by the movement. However, on 12 March 2016 Bedori stepped down from the candidacy, saying tearful during an assembly that she wasn't the right person to represent the movement. Afterwards on 24 March 2016 with a closed virtual primary on the web, the Five Star Movement choose its new candidate, Gianluca Corrado, who received 632 votes out of 876.

## Voting system

The semipresidential voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy of cities with a population higher than 15,000 for the sixth time. 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 at least 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.
For the zones the voting system is the same, not referred to the mayor but to the president of the zones.
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 losing party is determined proportionally.

## Parties and candidates

This is a list of the major parties (and their respective leaders) which participated in the election.
| Political party or alliance | Constituent lists | Constituent lists | Candidate |
| Centre-left coalition | | Democratic Party | Giuseppe Sala |
| Centre-left coalition | | Beppe Sala for Mayor – We, Milan | Giuseppe Sala |
| Centre-left coalition | | Left for Milan (incl. FdV) | Giuseppe Sala |
| Centre-left coalition | | Italy of Values | Giuseppe Sala |
| Centre-right coalition | | Forza Italia | Stefano Parisi |
| Centre-right coalition | | Northern League | Stefano Parisi |
| Centre-right coalition | | Brothers of Italy | Stefano Parisi |
| Centre-right coalition | | Popular Area | Stefano Parisi |
| Centre-right coalition | | Unique Italy | Stefano Parisi |
| Centre-right coalition | | Pensioners' Party | Stefano Parisi |
| Milan in Common (incl. PRC, PCdI, POS, AET and PU) | Milan in Common (incl. PRC, PCdI, POS, AET and PU) | Milan in Common (incl. PRC, PCdI, POS, AET and PU) | Basilio Rizzo |
| Five Star Movement | Five Star Movement | Five Star Movement | Gianluca Corrado |
| Italian Radicals | Italian Radicals | Italian Radicals | Marco Cappato |

## Results

Summary of the 2016 Milan 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 |
| | Giuseppe Sala | 224,156 | 41.70 | 264,481 | 51.70 | – | | Democratic Party | 145,933 | 28.97 | 22 |
| | Giuseppe Sala | 224,156 | 41.70 | 264,481 | 51.70 | – | | Beppe Sala for Mayor – We, Milan | 38,674 | 7.68 | 5 |
| | Giuseppe Sala | 224,156 | 41.70 | 264,481 | 51.70 | – | | Left for Milan | 19,281 | 3.83 | 2 |
| | Giuseppe Sala | 224,156 | 41.70 | 264,481 | 51.70 | – | | Italy of Values | 3,454 | 0.69 | – |
| | Giuseppe Sala | 224,156 | 41.70 | 264,481 | 51.70 | – | | Total | 207,342 | 41.20 | 29 |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Forza Italia | 101,802 | 20.21 | 8 |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Northern League | 59,313 | 11.77 | 4 |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Popular Milan | 15,803 | 3.14 | 1 |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Parisi List – Unique Milan | 15,215 | 3.02 | 1 |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Brothers of Italy | 12,197 | 2.42 | – |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Pensioners' Party | 2,164 | 0.43 | – |
| | Stefano Parisi | 219,218 | 40.78 | 247,052 | 48.30 | Y | | Total | 206,494 | 40.99 | 14 |
| | Gianluca Corrado | 54,099 | 10.06 | – | – | Y | | Five Star Movement | 52,376 | 10.40 | 2 |
| | Basilio Vincenzo Rizzo | 19,143 | 3.56 | – | – | Y | | Milan in Common | 17,635 | 3.50 | – |
| | Marco Cappato | 10,104 | 1.88 | – | – | – | | Ecologist Lay Federalist Radicals | 9,390 | 1.86 | – |
| | Nicolò Mardegan | 6,018 | 1.12 | – | – | – | | The People of the Family | 5,804 | 1.15 | – |
| | Natale Azzaretto | 2,220 | 0.41 | – | – | – | | Workers' Communist Party | 2,108 | 0.42 | – |
| | Luigi Santambrogio | 1,483 | 0.28 | – | – | – | | Municipal Alternative | 1,477 | 0.29 | – |
| | Maria Teresa Baldini | 1,143 | 0.21 | – | – | – | | Fuxia People | 1,095 | 0.22 | – |
| Total | Total | 537,584 | 100.00 | 511,533 | 100.00 | 3 | | | 503,721 | 100.00 | 45 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 1,006,701 | 100.00 | 1,006,701 | 100.00 | | | | | | |
| Voted | Voted | 550,194 | 54.65 | 521,487 | 51.80 | | | | | | |
| Did not vote | Did not vote | 456,507 | 45.35 | 485,214 | 48.20 | | | | | | |
| Blank or invalid ballots | Blank or invalid ballots | 12,610 | 2.30 | 9,954 | 1.90 | | | | | | |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 537,584 | 97.70 | 511,533 | 98.10 | | | | | | |
| Source: Ministry of the Interior ||||||||||||
Note: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, the mayoral candidate is automatically elected city councilor.
The candidate elected Major is not a member of the City Council, but has the right to vote in the City Council; if Stefano Parisi will resign, his seat in the City Council will pass to Riccardo De Corato (former Deputy Major, 1997-2011), first candidate of Brothers of Italy (FdI), because this list is the first list in the coalition under the electoral threshold.
Popular vote
PD
28.97%
FI
20.20%
LN
11.77%
M5S
10.39%
Sala list
7.67%
SxM
3.82%
MC
3.50%
MP
3.13%
Others
10.55% :
Council Seats
PD
45.83%
FI
18.75%
Sala list
10.42%
LN
8.33%
M5S
6.25%
SxM
4.12%
MC
2.1%
MP
2.1%
Others
2.1% :
Popular vote (coalition)
CSX
41.16%
CDX
40.99%
M5S
10.06%
MC
3.56% :
Council Seats (coalition)
CSX
60.42%
CDX
31.25%
M5S
6.25%
MC
2.10% :

## Results by municipio
### Presidents and Councils

After the 2011 election, all nine municipi were governed by the centre-left. Following the 2016 election, five were gained by the centre-right coalition and four by the centre-left.
Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each candidate and president elected:
| Municipio | CSX | CSX | CDX | CDX | M5S | M5S | Others | Others | Elected President | Party |
| Municipio | votes | % | votes | % | votes | % | votes | % | Elected President | Party |
| 1 | 18,081 | 45.2 | 16,515 | 41.3 | 2,422 | 6.1 | 2,984 | 6.4 | Fabio Luigi Arrigoni | PD |
| 2 | 20,795 | 38.5 | 23,314 | 43.1 | 6,269 | 11.6 | 3,682 | 6.9 | Samuele Piscina | LN |
| 3 | 25,956 | 43.7 | 23,068 | 38.8 | 5,701 | 9.6 | 4,696 | 7.8 | Caterina Antola | PD |
| 4 | 25,149 | 41.2 | 25,368 | 41.6 | 6,392 | 10.5 | 4,111 | 6.8 | Paolo Guido Giancarlo Maria Bassi | LN |
| 5 | 19,563 | 40.7 | 19,684 | 41.0 | 5,676 | 11.8 | 3,104 | 8.4 | Alessandro Bramanti | NCD |
| 6 | 24,738 | 41.7 | 23,860 | 40.2 | 6,800 | 11.5 | 3,942 | 6.7 | Santo Minniti | PD |
| 7 | 27,019 | 39.7 | 28,852 | 42.3 | 7,740 | 11.4 | 4,496 | 6.6 | Marco Bestetti | FI |
| 8 | 30,526 | 42.6 | 28,836 | 40.2 | 7,904 | 11.0 | 4,432 | 6.1 | Simone Zambelli | SI |
| 9 | 26,295 | 38.9 | 27,638 | 40.9 | 8,720 | 12.9 | 4,904 | 7.2 | Giuseppe Antonio Lardieri | FI |
Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service
Table below shows the seats for each coalition in every Municipal Council:
| Municipio | CSX | CDX | M5S | Others | Total |
| 1 | 18 | 11 | 1 | – | 30 |
| 2 | 9 | 18 | 3 | – | 30 |
| 3 | 18 | 10 | 2 | – | 30 |
| 4 | 10 | 18 | 2 | – | 30 |
| 5 | 10 | 18 | 2 | – | 30 |
| 6 | 18 | 10 | 2 | – | 30 |
| 7 | 10 | 18 | 2 | – | 30 |
| 8 | 18 | 10 | 2 | – | 30 |
| 9 | 9 | 18 | 3 | – | 30 |
| Total | 120 | 131 | 19 | – | 270 |
Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service

### Mayoral votes
#### Second round

Table below shows the results of the votes for mayoral candidates on the second round (19 June 2016) in each municipio:
| Municipio | Giuseppe Sala | Stefano Parisi | Turnout |
| 1 | 21,966 (52.6%) | 19,808 (47.4%) | 50.7% |
| 2 | 25,527 (49.6%) | 25,948 (50.4%) | 51.8% |
| 3 | 32,367 (55.0%) | 26,452 (45.0%) | 54.2% |
| 4 | 30,506 (51.4%) | 28,801 (48.6%) | 52.0% |
| 5 | 23,936 (52.2%) | 21,929 (47.8%) | 50.7% |
| 6 | 29,941 (52.5%) | 27,074 (47.5%) | 50.7% |
| 7 | 32,701 (50.2%) | 32,386 (49.8%) | 52.1% |
| 8 | 35,041 (50.9%) | 33,735 (49.1%) | 52.1% |
| 9 | 32,402 (51.1%) | 31,016 (48.9%) | 51.4% |