2008 Rome municipal election

Snap municipal elections were held in Rome on 13–14 and 27–28 April 2008 to elect the Mayor of Rome and 60 members of the City Council, as well as the nineteen presidents and more than 400 councillors of the 19 municipi in which the municipality was divided. The first round of the elections occurred on the same dates of the national general election.

2008 Rome mayoral election

13–14 April 2008 (first round) 27–28 April 2008 (second round)
Turnout	73.7% 7.7 pp (first round) 63.1% 10.6 pp (second round)
Candidate Gianni Alemanno Francesco Rutelli Party People of Freedom Democratic Party Alliance Centre-right Centre-left 1st Round vote 675,111 759,252 Percentage 40.7% 45.8% 2nd Round vote 783,725 676,850 Percentage 53.7% 46.3%
Mayor before election Mario Morcone (Special commissioner) Elected Mayor Gianni Alemanno PdL

The elections were called just two years after the previous ones since the incumbent mayor Walter Veltroni (PD) resigned on 13 February 2008 to run as the main candidate of the centre-left coalition in the general election.

The centre-right coalition candidate Gianni Alemanno, who was defeated by Veltroni in 2006, faced the incumbent Minister of Culture and Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli, who had previously hold the position of Mayor of Rome from 1993 to 2001.

Since none of the candidates obtained the majority of votes on the first round, a second round vote was held on 27–28 April 2008. As a result, Gianni Alemanno unexpectedly won nearly 54% of votes on the second round, becoming the first centre-right directly elected mayor of Rome.

Background

Following the fall of Prodi's government in January 2008, Veltroni, as national secretary of the newborn Democratic Party (PD), was chosen to run as the main candidate for the centre-left coalition in the April snap general election and resigned to concentrate on the national campaign.

Mayoral election

The centre-right coalition was led by Gianni Alemanno (PdL). Alemanno rejected a formal alliance with the far-right parties, but his critics emphasized that his victory was greeted by crowds of supporters, among them far right skinheads.

The centre-left coalition was led by Francesco Rutelli, who continued to maintain a huge popularity across the city.

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.

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.

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		Candidate
	Centre-left coalition		Democratic Party	Francesco Rutelli
			The Left – The Rainbow
			Bonino List
			Others
	The Right – Tricolour Flame			Francesco Storace
	Union of the Centre			Luciano Ciocchetti
	Centre-right coalition		The People of Freedom	Gianni Alemanno
			Movement for Autonomy
			Others

Results

Summary of the 2008 Rome City Council and Mayoral election results

Candidates		1st round		2nd round		Leader's seat	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
		Votes	%	Votes	%
	Gianni Alemanno	675,111	40.73	783,725	53.66	–		The People of Freedom	559,559	36.58	35
								Alemanno for Mayor	18,734	1.22	1
								The People of Life	10,194	0.67	–
								Movement for Autonomy	9,185	0.60	–
								The Voice of Consumers	5,196	0.34	–
								Italian Republican Party	3,308	0.22	–
								Total	606,176	39.62	36
	Francesco Rutelli	759,252	45.80	676,850	46.34	Y		Democratic Party	520,723	34.04	17
								The Left – The Rainbow	69,079	4.52	2
								Italy of Values	50,704	3.31	1
								Rutelli List	41,880	2.74	1
								Under30 for Rutelli	11,486	0.75	–
								Bonino List	10,427	0.68	–
								Moderates for Rome	7,470	0.49	–
								Democratic Union for Consumers	2,699	0.18	–
								Total	714,468	46.70	21
	Francesco Storace	55,041	3.32	–	–	–		The Right – Tricolour Flame	51,614	3.37	1
	Luciano Ciocchetti	52,055	3.14	–	–	–		Union of the Centre	50,682	3.31	1
	Serenetta Monti	43,966	2.65	–	–	–		Friends of Beppe Grillo	40,389	2.64	–
	Franco Grillini	13,604	0.82	–	–	–		Socialist Party	11,413	0.75	–
	Michele Baldi	13,002	0.78	–	–	–		Baldi List	11,913	0.78	–
	Mario Baccini	12,179	0.73	–	–	–		The White Rose	11,659	0.76	–
	Dario Di Francesco	12,041	0.73	–	–	–		Forza Roma	4,911	0.32	–
								Talking Cricket List	4,895	0.32	–
								Avanti Lazio	1,792	0.12	–
								Total	11,598	0.76	–
	Armando Morgia	8,724	0.53	–	–	–		Critical Left	8,207	0.54	–
	Susanna Capristo	5,011	0.30	–	–	–		Workers' Communist Party	4,608	0.30	–
	David Gramiccioli	3,556	0.21	–	–	–		Dolphin National Movement	3,309	0.22	–
	Pietro De Stefani	2,699	0.16	–	–	–		Pensions and Work	1,883	0.12	–
								The Green Thing	673	0.04	–
								Total	2,556	0.17	–
	Umberto Calabrese	1,342	0.08	–	–	–		My Italy	1,279	0.08	–
Total		1,657,583	100.00	1,460,575	100.00	1			1,529,871	100.00	59
Eligible voters		2,347,502	100.00	2,347,502	100.00
Did not vote		618,215	26.34	865,707	36.88
Voted		1,729,287	73.66	1,481,795	63.12
Blank or invalid ballots		71,704	4.14	21,220	1.43
Total valid votes		1,657,583	95.86	1,460,575	98.57
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Notes

Election in the municipi

Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the first round:

Municipio	Centre-left	Centre-right	Elected President	Party
I	50.8	34.1	Orlando Corsetti	PD
III	51.0	37.9	Dario Marcucci	PD
V	52.7	35.8	Ivano Caradonna	PD
VI	53.8	35.2	Gianmarco Palmieri	PD
IX	54.7	34.9	Susana Ana Maria Fantino	SA
X	51.8	36.2	Sandro Medici	SA
XI	53.1	32.7	Andrea Catarci	SA
XV	53.0	38.7	Giovanni Paris	PD
XVI	50.7	37.9	Fabio Bellini	PD
XVII	50.0	41.9	Antonella De Giusti	PD

Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the second round:

Municipio	Centre-left	Centre-right	Elected President	Party
II	46.5	53.5	Sara De Angelis	PdL
IV	49.6	50.4	Cristiano Bonelli	PdL
VII	51.6	48.4	Roberto Mastrantonio	SA
VIII	47.5	52.5	Massimo Lorenzotti	PdL
XII	46.6	53.4	Pasquale Calzetta	PdL
XIII	48.7	51.3	Giacomo Vizzani	PdL
XVIII	44.6	55.4	Daniele Giannini	PdL
XIX	46.5	53.5	Alfredo Miloni	PdL
XX	38.6	61.4	Gianni Giacomini	PdL

Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service