16 November 1997 2001 → 60.4% 35.9% | 945,361 586,083 | |
Winner Francesco Rutelli | ||
Municipal elections were held in Rome on 16 November 1997. The outgoing Mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli (Greens) faced the center-right candidate businessman Pierluigi Borghini.
Contents
Control of the 19 circoscrizioni of the Italian capital was also to be decided in the elections. 55 councillors were due to be elected in the City Council.
As a result of the election, Borghini was heavely defeated by Rutelli. The center-left controls 35 seats against for the center-right.
Background
The City voted not many time after the 1996 general elections, in which the center-left coalition won the majority in the Parliament; Rome gave a lot of votes to Romano Prodi and was a City historically progressive into the political scene.
Mayoral election
The center-right coalition was led by Borghini (National Alliance), a famous businessman and president of the EUR Spa. Borghini, was supported for the first time in Rome by a great coalition in which liberal-conservative parties were allied with the ex Christian-democratic parties; however, Borghini was member of National Alliance, merged from the historical Italian Social Movement, which was very strong in the Italian capital.
The center-left coalition was led by the outgoing mayor Francesco Rutelli, who in 1993 became the first mayor of Italy member of the Greens.
Voting System
The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city with a population higher than 15,000 nhabintants. 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 circoscrizioni the voting system is the same, not referred to the mayor but to the president of the circoscrizione.
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.