Municipal elections were held in Turin, Piedmont, on 5 June 2016 to elect the mayor of Turin and the 38 members of the City Council of Turin. Chiara Appendino, the candidate of the Five Star Movement (M5S), was elected after defeating the incumbent mayor Piero Fassino in the runoff election on 19 June. As a centre-left coalition stronghold that always elected a centre-left mayor since direct elections began in 1993, Fassino (who finished first in the first round by a comfortable margin) was considered the frontrunner and Appendino's win was an upset. Appendino's win also marked the first win for the M5S in a major Italian city and occurred during a wave of mayoral victories by the M5S in the 2016 Italian local elections. The results were widely reported as a major breakthrough for the M5S, which had previously been seen as a protest party rather than a significant political force.
Voting system The voting system for the office of mayor of Turin is used for all mayoral elections in Italy in the cities 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. As a result, the winning candidate can claim majority support, although it is not guaranteed. The election of the City Council of Turin is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote and the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally.
Political parties and political candidates Among the main candidates and coalitions that took part to the election were left-wing, centre-left, centrist, centre-right, and right-wing coalitions, plus the M5S.
Political force or allianceConstituent party or listsCandidateLeft-wing coalition Turin in Common (SEL, PRC, PCdI, AET, FaS) Giorgio Airaudo Turin Environment (Pos, GI) Civic listCentre-left coalition Democratic Party (PD)Piero Fassino Moderates Civic lists Five Star Movement Five Star Movement (M5S) Chiara AppendinoCentrist coalition Rosso for Mayor (CoR)Roberto Rosso Union of the Centre – Popular Area (UDC–AP) Democratic Alliance (AD) Moderates in Revolution (MIR)Centre-right coalition Forza Italia (FI)Osvaldo Napoli Civic listsRight-wing coalition Northern League (LN)Alberto Morano Brothers of Italy (FdI)
Opinion polling First round Date Polling firm Fassino Appendino Morano Napoli Airaudo Rosso Others Lead 41.8 30.9 8.3 5.3 3.7 5.0 8.7 10.9 18–19 May 2016 IPR 41.0 29.0 9.0 8.0 7.0 3.0 3.0 12.0 17 May 2016 Tecnè 38.5 30.0 9.0 8.0 7.5 1.5 5.0 8.5 16–17 May 2016 IPR 40.0 29.0 9.0 8.0 6.0 2.0 6.0 11.0 9–17 May 2016 Demos&Pi 42.5 23.1 7.3 9.9 7.3 7.5 2.4 19.4 4–6 May 2016 Index Research 39.5 30.0 9.0 8.0 9.0 2.0 2.5 9.5 2–5 May 2016 ScenariPolitici 45.0 25.5 11.5 5.0 8.0 4.0 1.0 19.5 2 May 2016 Tencè 39.0 31.5 9.5 8.5 7.5 2.0 2.0 7.5 20–23 April 2016 ScenariPolitici 47.0 23.0 12.0 5.0 8.0 4.0 1.0 24.0 19 April 2016 Tencè 41.0 30.0 11.0 9.0 7.0 1.0 1.0 11.0
Second round Fassino vs. Appendino Date Polling firm Fassino Appendino Lead 45.4 54.5 9.1 17 May 2016 Tecnè 52.0 48.0 4.0 16–17 May 2016 IPR 51.5 48.5 3.0 9–17 May 2016 Demos&Pi 56.8 43.2 13.6 2–5 May 2016 ScenariPolitici 52.5 47.5 5.0 2 May 2016 Tecnè 51.5 48.5 3.0 20–23 April 2016 ScenariPolitici 54.0 46.0 8.0 19 April 2016 Tecnè 52.0 48.0 4.0
Fassino vs. Morano Date Polling firm Fassino Morano Lead 2–5 May 2016 ScenariPolitici 61.0 39.0 22.0 20–23 April 2016 ScenariPolitici 62.0 38.0 24.0
Results + Summary of the 5–19 June 2016 Turin City Council election results Candidate First round Second round Leader'sseats Political party or party list Votes % Seats Votes % Votes % Chiara Appendino 118,273 30.92 202,764 54.56 – Five Star Movement 107,680 30.01 24 Piero Fassino 160,023 41.84 168,880 45.44 Democratic Party 106,818 29.77 8 Moderates 21,307 5.94 1 Fassino List 14,898 4.15 1 Left for the City 7,253 2.02 –Alberto Morano 32,103 8.39 – – Northern League 20,769 5.79 1 Brothers of Italy 5,259 1.47 – Morano list 4,983 1.39 –Osvaldo Napoli 20,349 5.32 – – Forza Italia 16,684 4.65 – Let's Save the Ophthalmic 2.435 0.68 – A Dream for Turin 567 0.16 –Roberto Rosso 19,334 5.05 – – Rosso List 11,339 3.16 – Union of the Centre – Popular Area 5,114 1.43 – Pensioners' Union 1,568 0.44 – Democratic Alliance 409 0.11 – Moderates in Revolution 321 0.09 –Giorgio Airaudo 14,166 3.70 – – Turin in Common 10,115 2.82 – Turin Environment (Possible – Green Italia) 2,244 0.63 – Pensioners and Disabled 1,077 0.30 –Gianluca Noccetti 5,251 1.37 – – – Piedmont Padanian League 2,937 0.82 – 4-Legged Friends 1,321 0.37 – Forza Toro 484 0.13 – Unemployed. Precarious and Exiled 363 0.10 – Motorist List 98 0.03 –Marco Rizzo 3,323 0.87 – – – Communist Party 3,192 0.89 – Marco Racca 2,082 0.54 – – – CasaPound 1,985 0.55 –Vitantonio Colucci 2,032 0.53 – – – The People of the Family 1,996 0.56 – Mario Cornelio Levi 1,337 0.35 – – – Italy of Values 1,327 0.37 –Anna Battista 980 0.26 – – – It's Enough! 927 0.26 – Pier Carlo Devoti 915 0.24 – – – The Square 1.089 0.30 – Roberto Usseglio 690 0.18 – – – New Force 672 0.19 – Alessio Ariotto 628 0.16 – – – Workers' Communist Party 615 0.17 – Lorenzo Varaldo 584 0.15 – – – Abrogation! 546 0.15 – Guglielmo Del Pero 433 0.11 – – – We Are Turin 413 0.12 – Total 382,503 100.00 371,644 100.00 5 358,805 100.00 35Source: Ministry of the Interior Notes According to the Italian electoral law of 1993 for the municipalities of Italy, if a defeated candidate for mayor obtains over 3% of votes, the mayoral candidate is automatically elected city councillor (in this case Fassino, Morano, Napoli, Rosso, and Airaudo were all elected). The candidate elected mayor votes on the city council but is not a member of it.
See also 2016 Rome municipal election Civic list (Italy) Elections in Turin Opinion polling for the 2016 Italian local elections
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