Municipal elections were held in Rome on 13 and 27 May 2001 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 date of the national general election.
The outgoing Mayor Francesco Rutelli, term-limited by the Italian law on local government, had resigned from his position on 8 January that year to run as the main candidate of The Olive Tree in the national general election.
The two main candidates were the former Minister of Cultural Heritage, former Deputy Prime Minister and incumbent secretary of the Democrats of the Left (DS) Walter Veltroni and the liberal-conservative MEP Antonio Tajani, a prominent member of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI).
Since none of the candidates obtained the majority of votes on the first round, a second round vote was held on 27 May 2001. As a result of the election, Veltroni was elected mayor with 52% of votes and sworn in on 1 June 2001.
Background Following the end of the parliamentary legislature, Rutelli was chosen to lead the centre-left coalition in the 2001 general election and resigned as Mayor of Rome on 8 January 2001, just two days after the end of the Great Jubilee.
Mayoral election The House of Freedoms had been heavily defeated in the previous municipal election. Tajani rejected a formal alliance with the far-right parties and preferred a liberal-conservative coalition, like the one which supported Silvio Berlusconi in the general election.
Thanks to the overlap with the general election, which saw a huge victor of the House of Freedoms alliance, the centre-right coalition unexpectedly succeeded to win a majority of votes across the city. Although a strong performance of his coalition, Tajani wasn't able to win the race and on the second round he had to concede to Veltroni, who showed to have a strong support in the city. Despite the lower number of votes, the centre-left coalition obtained the majority of seats in the City Council thanks to the electoral system's mechanisms.
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.
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(The Olive Tree) Democrats of the Left Walter Veltroni The Daisy Federation of the Greens Party of Italian Communists Communist Refoundation Party Italian Democratic Socialists Veltroni List Centre-right coalition(House of Freedoms) Forza Italia Antonio Tajani National Alliance Christian Democratic Centre United Christian Democrats Others
Results + Summary of the 2001 Rome City Council and Mayoral election results Candidates 1st round 2nd round Leader'sseat Parties Votes % Seats Votes % Votes % Walter Veltroni 800,275 48.35 871,930 52.17 – Democrats of the Left 238,092 17.64 15 Veltroni List 146,463 10.85 9 The Daisy 111,315 8.25 7 Communist Refoundation Party 61,728 4.57 3 Federation of the Greens 31,698 2.35 2 Party of Italian Communists 15,462 1.15 – Italian Democratic Socialists 9,244 0.68 –Total614,00245.4936 Antonio Tajani 746,846 45.12 799,363 47.83 National Alliance 283,922 21.04 11 Forza Italia 259,514 19.23 10 Christian Democratic Centre – United Christian Democrats 41,148 3.05 1 Tajani List 37,393 2.77 1 New Italian Socialist Party 8,268 0.61 – Italian Republican Party 3,136 0.23 – Liberal Party – Greens Greens 2,958 0.22 – Pensioners and Disabled 1,985 0.15 – Modern Democracy 1,584 0.12 – Active Democracy 1,025 0.08 –Total640,93347.4923 Sergio D'Antoni 40,025 2.42 – – – European Democracy 28,905 2.14 – United Pensioners 4,686 0.35 –Total33,5912.49– Giovanni Roma 19,064 1.15 – – – Italy of Values 17,917 1.33 – Angiolo Bandinelli 16,483 1.00 – – – Bonino List 14,236 1.05 – Isabella Rauti 9,551 0.58 – – – Tricolour Flame 8,709 0.65 – Adriano Tilgher 5,937 0.36 – – – National Social Front 5,361 0.40 – Guido Mussolini 3,497 0.21 – – – New Force 2,732 0.20 – Alessandro Cicero 3,294 0.20 – – – Pole of the Centre 1,649 0.12 – Dario Di Francesco 2,996 0.18 – – – Avanti Lazio 2,738 0.20 – Mario Adinolfi 1,587 0.10 – – – Direct Democracy 1,543 0.11 – Michele Capuano 1,539 0.09 – – – Popular Democracy (United Left) 1,609 0.12 – Giuseppe Conti 1,152 0.07 – – – Independent Movement for Animal Rights 1,091 0.08 – Antonio Licata 1,125 0.07 – – – European Populars 1,984 0.15 – Loredana Cici 1,010 0.06 – – – Humanist Party 856 0.06 – Maurizio Saracini 710 0.04 – – – Italy of Citizens 739 0.05 – Total 1,655,091 100.00 1,671,293 100.00 1 1,349,690 100.00 59Eligible voters100.00100.00Did not vote20.6325.80Voted79.3774.20Blank or invalid ballots8.971.67Total valid votes91.0398.33Source: Ministry of the Interior Notes
Municipi election
In January 2001 the City Council of Rome approved a new decentralization reform. The previous circoscrizioni were renamed municipi and the direct election in two different rounds of a president to head each municipio was established.
Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the first round: Municipio The Olive Tree House of Freedoms Elected President PartyII 42.5 51.1 Antonio SacconeFIV 52.4 40.5 Ivano CaradonnaDSVI 50.9 41.8 Enzo PuroDSXVIII 41.3 51.6 Vincenzo FrattaANXX 40.0 54.7 Massimiliano FasoliCCD
Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the second round:
Municipio The Olive Tree House of Freedoms Elected President PartyI 52.6 47.4 Giuseppe LobefaroDLIII 53.7 46.3 Orlando CorsettiDLIV 51.2 48.8 Benvenuto SalduccoDLVII 53.9 46.1 Stefano TozziPRCVIII 51.0 49.0 Giuseppe Celli SDIIX 52.9 47.1 Maurizio OlivaFdVX 53.7 46.3 Sandro MediciPRCXI 53.4 46.6 Massimiliano SmeriglioPRCXII 49.3 50.7 Paolo PollakFIXIII 48.4 51.6 Davide BordoniFIXV 51.5 48.5 Giovanni ParisDLXVI 54.1 45.9 Fabio BelliniDSXVII 49.8 50.2 Roberto VernarelliCCDXIX 49.5 50.5 Marco ViscontiAN Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service
References