Mayor of Venice

Overview

According to the Italian Constitution, the Mayor of Venice is member of the Venice's City Council. Although the title Mayor is not held by the heads of the six boroughs of Venice, because they do not actually preside over self-governmental municipalities.

The Mayor is elected by the population of Venice. Citizens elect also the members of the City Council, which also controls Mayor's policy guidelines and is able to enforce his resignation by a motion of no confidence. The Mayor is entitled to appoint and release the members of his government.

Since 1993 the Mayor is elected directly by Florence's electorate: in all mayoral elections in Italy in cities with a population higher than 15,000 the 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 at least 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. 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.

The seat of the City Council is the city hall Ca' Loredan on the Canal Grande.

Podestà (1806-1866)

Podestà of Venice were appointed since 1806 to 1866 by the rulers of the city during the early- to mid-19th century: Napoleon and the Habsburgs.

Kingdom of Italy (1866-1946)

In 1860, the nascent Kingdom of Italy created the office of the Mayor of Venice (Sindaco di Venezia), chosen by the City council:

Republic of Italy (1946-present)

From 1946 to 1993, the Mayor of Venice was chosen by the City Council:

  Centrist (DC);   Center-left (DC and allies);   Leftist (PCI, PSI and allies).

Since 1993, under provisions of new local administration law, the Mayor of Venice is chosen by popular election, originally every four, and later every five years:

Mayoral and City Council election, 1993

The election took place in two rounds: the first on 21 November and the second on 5 December 1993.

For the first time under the new electoral law citizens could vote directly the mayor; before this choice was made by the City Council. For the first time a center-left coalition, composed by the ex-communist Democratic Party of the Left and some other progressives party (such as the new-born Federation of the Greens and the Communist Refoundation Party), presented its candidate: Massimo Cacciari. He was an independent venetian philosopher, who had been a member of the Italian Communist Party.

The main opposition to Cacciari's coalition was represented by Aldo Mariconda; Mariconda was a businessman and member of the regionalist Lega Nord-Liga Veneta, which combined Venetian nationalism and a strong support for fiscal federalism. Liga Veneta, as regional faction of the national Lega Nord party, had a liberal, centrist and economically libertarian outfit due to the political upbringing of its early leaders and a more conservative electoral base.

Although the political crisis, Christian Democracy presented its candidate: Giovanni Castellani.

On 5 December 1993, Cacciari won the election and became the first elected mayor of Venice.

Mayoral and City Council election, 1997

The election took place on 16 November 1997.

The main candidates were the outgoing mayor Massimo Cacciari, supported by Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left coalition The Olive Tree, and Mauro Pizzigati, supported by Silvio Berlusconi's party Forza Italia.

Mayoral and City Council election, 2000

The election took place in two rounds: the first on 16 April and the second on 30 April 2000.

The snap election was held in April 2000 after the incumbent mayor Massimo Cacciari resigned in January to run as center-left candidate for the regional elections.

The main candidates were Paolo Costa, a member of the center-left Italian People's Party and former Minister of Public Works (1996-1998), and Renato Brunetta, a center-right MEP.

Mayoral ad City Council election, 2005

These elections were held on two separate dates: the first round on 3–4 April, the second round on 17–18 April 2005.

The candidates were in total eleven, but only four were supported by political parties (all the others were supported by independent lists): the philosopher and former mayor Massimo Cacciari, which were supported by the center-left party The Daisy, the magistrate Felice Casson, who was supported by a broad center-left coalition, the businessman Cesare Campa, who was supported by Forza Italia and Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, and Alberto Mazzonetto, who was supported by Lega Nord.

After a hard battle, to the second round went Massimo Cacciari, who represented the moderate left, and Felice Casson, who represented some of the extreme left parties. Despite the first round had a lot of votes, Casson lost because many of the center-right voters voted for Cacciari.

After two years, however, when Democrats of the Left and The Daisy merged into the Democratic Party, Cacciari had a majority even greater in the City Council.

Mayoral and City Council election, 2010

These elections were held on 28–29 March 2010.

There were nine candidates (two supported by important coalition and seven supported by different independent lists); the most important candidates were Giorgio Orsoni and the minister Renato Brunetta, who tried for a second time to become the mayor (in fact he was candidate for this position in 2000). Giorgio Orsoni was supported by a center-left coalition formed by Democratic Party, Italy of Values, Communist Refoundation Party-Federation of the Greens and the Italian Socialist Party; Renato Brunetta was supported by a center-right coalition formed by The People of Freedom and Lega Nord.

Unexpectedly, Orsoni won the election in the first round making did not go to vote for a possible second round, as it has happened in the elections of 2000 and of 2005.

Mayoral and City Council election, 2015

These elections were held on two different dates: the first round on 31 May, the second round on 14 June 2015.

These elections occurred after a year during which the city were governed by a special commissioner after the incumbent mayor Giorgio Orsoni resigned in June 2014 amid a wider investigation into alleged corruption over new flood barriers MOSE Project. The official candidate of the center-left coalition was the left-wing magistrate and senator Felice Casson, who failed the election in 2005. Cause of his opposition to Matteo Renzi's political line, Casson was generally considered as a representative of the extreme left parties, and based his campaign on the break with the old and corrupted politicians who were investigated the past year.

The main opposition to Casson's coalition was the center-righ independent Luigi Brugnaro, a businessman and president of the Reyer Venezia Mestre basketball club. Brugnaro was sustained by a coalition between Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the conservative Popular Area alliance.

Although Casson was ahead after the first round, on 14 June Brugnaro won the election and became the first directly-elected conservative mayor of the city. However, the victory of Brugnaro occurred thanks to his great popularity across the city: his own independent list Brugnaro for Mayor resulted the first party in the city and gained 17 of 36 seats in the City Council, while Forza Italia and Popular Area obtained together no more than 5% of the votes.

After the election, Brugnaro said he considered himself as an independent, totally free from parties' influence, and a supporter of Matteo Renzi's policy.