The municipal elections in Bologna took place on 3 and 4 October 2021. The incumbent Mayor of Bologna was Virginio Merola of Democratic Party, who won the 2016 Bologna municipal election. The centre-left candidate Matteo Lepore won in a landslide with 62% of votes, becoming the most voted mayor since the introduction of direct elections in 1995.Elezioni 2021: Lepore vince a Bologna con una percentuale travolgente, ANSA
Electoral system The voting system 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 during the first round, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. The winning candidate obtains a majority bonus equal to 60% of seats. During the first round, if no candidate gets more than 50% of votes but a coalition of lists gets the majority of 50% of votes or if the mayor is elected in the first round but its coalition gets less than 40% of the valid votes, the majority bonus cannot be assigned to the coalition of the winning mayor candidate.
The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a maximum of two preferential votes, each for a different gender, belonging to the same party list: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally, using D'Hondt seat allocation. Only coalitions with more than 3% of votes are eligible to get any seats.
Background Centre-left primary election
Candidate Party Votes % Notes Matteo Lepore Democratic Party15,750 59.6% Isabella Conti Italia Viva10,672 40.4%Total 26,422 100%
Endorsements Matteo Lepore Anna Ascani (PD), current Vicepresident of the Democratic Party (2019–today) and Undersecretary for Economic Development (2021–today) Stefano Bonaccini (PD), current President of Emilia-Romagna (2014–today) Emily Marion Clancy (SI), municipal councillor for Bologna (2016–today) Giuseppe Conte (M5S), former Prime Minister (2018–2021) Valentina Cuppi (PD), current President of the Democratic Party (2020–today), mayor of Marzabotto (2019–today) Andrea De Maria (PD), Member of the Chamber of Deputies (2013–today), mayor of Marzabotto (1995–2004) Vasco Errani (Art.1), former President of Emilia-Romagna (1999–2014) Cathy La Torre (Independent), lawyer and LGBT activist, municipal councillor for Bologna (2011–2016) Nicola Fratoianni (SI), current Secretary of Italian Left (2017–2019; 2021–today) Enrico Letta (PD), current Secretary of the Democratic Party (2021–today) and former Prime Minister (2013–2014) Virginio Merola (PD), current Mayor of Bologna (2011–today) Dario Nardella (PD), current Mayor of Florence (2014–today) Romano Prodi (Independent), former Prime Minister (1996–1998; 2006–2008) Peppe Provenzano (PD), current Deputy secretary of the Democratic Party (2021–today) and former Minister for Territorial Cohesion (2019–2021) Mattia Santori (Independent), leader of the Sardines movement Elly Schlein (GI), current Vicepresident of Emilia-Romagna (2020–today) Nicola Zingaretti (PD), President of Lazio (2013–today) and former Secretary of the Democratic Party (2019–2021)
Isabella Conti Alberto Aitini (PD), municipal assessor for Bologna (2016–today) Mauro Felicori (Independent), regional assessor of Culture (2020–today) Gian Luca Galletti (CpE), Minister of Environment (2014–2018), member of the Chamber of Deputies (2006–2013) Elisabetta Gualmini (PD), Member of the European Parliament (2019–today) Marco Lombardo (PD), municipal assessor for Bologna (2016–today) Matteo Renzi (IV), member of the Senate of the Republic (2018–today), former Prime Minister (2014–2016)Bologna, Matteo Renzi candida Isabella Conti per le amministrative, Corriere di Bologna Giampiero Veronesi (PD), Mayor of Anzola dell'Emilia (2014–today)
Parties and candidates This is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which will participate in the election.
Political force or allianceConstituent listsCandidateCentre-left coalition Democratic PartyMatteo Lepore Five Star Movement Matteo Lepore for Mayor Civic Coalition for Bologna (incl. SI, Art.1, Pos, èViva) You Also Count (incl. IV, +E) Green Europe Italian Socialist Party – Volt Centre-right coalition Forza Italia – Union of the Centre Fabio Battistini League Brothers of Italy Battistini for Mayor – We like Bologna (incl. È, NcI)The People of the Family Power to the People Marta Collot Stefano Sermenghi for Mayor Italexit (incl. Vox Italy) Stefano Sermenghi BFC – Bologna Civic Forum 3V Movement Andrea Tosatto United Left for Bologna (incl. PRC, PCI) Dora Palumbo August 24th Movement Luca Labanti Workers' Communist Party Federico Bacchiocchi
Opinion polls Candidates
Date Polling firm/Client Sample size Lepore Battistini Others Undecided Lead-61.929.68.5- 32.3 12–15 Sep 2021 Noto 1,000 60.0 34.0 6.0 22.0 36.0 7–10 Sep 2021 Quorum 805 59.5 32.1 8.4 42.0 27.4 3–8 Sep 2021 Quorum 806 60.1 32.5 4.0–8.0 7.4 27.6 7 Sep 2021 Opinio 58.0 37.0 6.0 17.4 21.0 24–26 Aug 2021 BiDiMedia 822 63.5 28.0 8.5 26.0 35.5 13–18 Aug 2021 Winpoll 800 61.6 27.1 11.3 34.5 17 Aug 2021 Opinio 57.0 38.0 5.0 19.0 3–5 Aug 2021 Demopolis 1,502 49.0 36.0 15.0 38.0 13.0
Parties
Date Polling firm Sample sizeCentre-leftCentre-right Others Undecided LeadPDM5SCC+E–IVOtherLegaFIFdIOther-36.53.47.35.710.17.73.812.64.97.9- 23.9 3–8 Sep 2021 Quorum 806 40.8 8.1 colspan=2 11.2 16.3 5.8 11.9 2.2 3.7 34.7 24.5 24–26 Aug 2021 BiDiMedia 822 35.9 5.1 10.4 5.3 7.1 8.3 3.5 13.6 2.7 8.1 23.0 24.8 19–24 Apr 2021 BiDiMedia 1,338 33.2 7.0 12.0 10.7 9.6 3.1 11.1 5.3 7.0 6.1 26.0 22.1 16–19 Sep 2020 Quorum 1,010 38.6 3.0 9.4 4.1 18.9 18.9 8.3 5.6 6.3 5.8 40.0 19.7–35.516.613.410.36.32.414.31.4– 18.9
Results + Summary of the 2021 Bologna City Council election results Candidates 1st round Leader's seats Parties Votes % Seats Votes % Matteo Lepore 94,565 61.90 – Democratic Party 53,486 36.50 16 Civic Coalition for Bologna 10,722 7.32 3 Matteo Lepore for Mayor 9,303 6.35 3 You Also Count 8,376 5.72 2 Five Star Movement 4,938 3.37 1 Green Europe 4,113 2.81 1 Italian Socialist Party – Volt 1,335 0.91 –Total92,27362.9625Fabio Battistini 45,282 29.64 1 Brothers of Italy18,51412.635 League 11,346 7.74 3 Battistini For Mayor 6,640 4.53 1 Forza Italia – Union of the Centre 5,561 3.79 1 The People of the Family 598 0.41 –Total42,65929.1110 Marta Collot 3,801 2.49 – Power to the People 3,355 2.29 – Stefano Sermenghi 3,053 2.00 – BFC – Bologna Civic Forum 1,599 1.09 – Italexit – Civic List for Bologna 1,075 0.73 –Total2,6741.82– Andrea Tosatto 2,497 1.63 – 3V Movement 2,428 1.66 – Dora Palumbo 2,433 1.59 – United Left – Communist Refoundation – PCI 2,144 1.46 – Federico Bacchiocchi 625 0.41 – Workers' Communist Party 597 0.41 – Luca Labanti 508 0.33 – August 24th Movement 423 0.29 – Total 152.764 100.00 1 146,553 100.00 35Source: Ministry of the Interior
Notes: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, he/she is automatically elected communal councilor (Battistini); see Italian electoral law of 1993 for Comuni. The candidate elected Mayor is not a member of communal council, but Merola votes in the communal council (see Italian electoral law 1993).
See also 2021 Italian local elections
References