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.

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,Elisabeth Rosenthal, "With Flawed System Unchanged, Italy Sets Elections for April", The New York Times, 7 February 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.Steve Scherer, "Veltroni Resigns as Rome Mayor to Take on Berlusconi (Update1)", Bloomberg.com, 13 February 2008.

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 allianceConstituent listsCandidate 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'sseat 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 –Total606,17639.6236 Francesco Rutelli 759,252 45.80 676,850 46.34 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 –Total714,46846.7021 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 – Total11,5980.76– 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 –Total2,5560.17– 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 59Eligible voters100.00100.00Did not vote26.3436.88Voted73.6663.12Blank or invalid ballots4.141.43Total valid votes95.8698.57Source: 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 CorsettiPD III 51.0 37.9 Dario MarcucciPD V 52.7 35.8 Ivano CaradonnaPD VI 53.8 35.2 Gianmarco PalmieriPD IX 54.7 34.9 Susana Ana Maria FantinoSA X 51.8 36.2 Sandro MediciSA XI 53.1 32.7 Andrea CatarciSA XV 53.0 38.7 Giovanni ParisPD XVI 50.7 37.9 Fabio BelliniPD XVII 50.0 41.9 Antonella De GiustiPD

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 AngelisPdL IV 49.6 50.4 Cristiano BonelliPdL VII 51.6 48.4 Roberto MastrantonioSA VIII 47.5 52.5 Massimo LorenzottiPdL XII 46.6 53.4 Pasquale CalzettaPdL XIII 48.7 51.3 Giacomo VizzaniPdL XVIII 44.6 55.4 Daniele GianniniPdL XIX 46.5 53.5 Alfredo MiloniPdL XX 38.6 61.4 Gianni GiacominiPdL Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service

References