2006 Rome municipal election

In May 2006, the city of Rome had elections to choose its new mayor and city leaders. People in Rome voted on May 28th and 29th to pick the Mayor of Rome and 60 members of the City Council. They also chose leaders for the nineteen areas, called municipi, that make up the city.

Two main candidates wanted to be mayor. The current mayor, Walter Veltroni, from a left-wing political group, was running again. His opponent was Gianni Alemanno, a national-conservative and the Minister of Agricolture.

In the end, Walter Veltroni won the election by a large number of votes. He was chosen to serve another five years as the mayor of Rome.

Background

In April 2006, there was a national election. The centre-left group, led by Romano Prodi, won by a small amount over the centre-right group led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. To make things fair, Berlusconi chose the election date to be in early April. This meant it did not happen at the same time as the big city elections, like in Rome, Milan, Naples, and Turin. The Rome city election happened later, on 28–29 May 2006.

The main people trying to be mayor of Rome were the current mayor Walter Veltroni, who was very popular, and Gianni Alemanno, a minister in the government. During the campaign, Alemanno got some criticism for his links with some political groups and for a TV show right before the election.

Voting system

In Italy, cities with more than 15,000 people use a special way to choose their mayor. Voters can pick a mayor directly or choose a party that supports a candidate. If no one gets more than half of the votes, the top two candidates have another election two weeks later. This helps make sure the winner has strong support.

When choosing members of the City Council, voters pick a candidate and can give their preference to one. The candidate with the most preferences wins, and the number of seats each party gets depends on how many votes they received.

Parties and candidates

This section lists the main parties and their leaders who were part of the election.

Political party or alliance		Constituent lists
	Centre-left coalition (The Union)	The Olive Tree	Walter Veltroni
		Veltroni List
		Communist Refoundation Party
		Party of Italian Communists
		Rose in the Fist
		Federation of the Greens
		Italy of Values

Others
	Centre-right coalition (House of Freedoms)	Forza Italia	Gianni Alemanno
		National Alliance
		Union of Christian and Centre Democrats
		Christian Democracy for Autonomies
		Social Action
		Others

Results

In May 2006, Rome held elections to choose its mayor and city council members. The main candidates were Walter Veltroni, who was already the mayor, and Gianni Alemanno. Veltroni won the election and continued to serve as mayor for another five years.

Summary of the 2006 Rome City Council and Mayoral election results
Candidates		Votes	%	Leader's seat		Votes	%	Seats

	Walter Veltroni	926,932	61.42	–	The Olive Tree	441,914	33.82	23
					Veltroni List	80,328	6.15	4
					Communist Refoundation Party	70,918	5.43	3
					Federation of the Greens	62,262	4.76	3
					Moderates	57,339	4.39	2
					Italy of Values	29,822	2.28	1
					Rose in the Fist	25,695	1.97	1
					Party of Italian Communists	19,883	1.52	1
					Rainbow Rome	8,524	0.65	–
					Consumers' List	2,046	0.16	–
					United Consumers	1,943	0.15	–
					Italian Democratic Socialist Party	1,157	0.09	–
					Total	801,831	61.36	38
	Gianni Alemanno	559,810	37.09	Y	National Alliance	254,337	19.46	13
					Forza Italia	132,869	10.17	6
					Union of Christian and Centre Democrats	56,763	4.34	2
					Love for Rome	10,150	0.78	–
					Social Action	7,553	0.58	–
					Christian Democracy for Autonomies	7,276	0.56	–
					New Italian Socialist Party	5,333	0.41	–
					Forza Roma	3,466	0.27	–
					Italian Republican Party	2,057	0.16	–
					Avanti Lazio	1,327	0.10	–
					Independent Movement for Animal Rights	850	0.07	–
					Pensions, Houses and Work	698	0.05	–
					New Generation	661	0.05	–
					Real Democratic Party	538	0.04	–
					Total	483,878	37.03	21
	Rita Casillo	5,816	0.39	–	Communist Initiative	5,334	0.41
	Luca Romagnoli	4,015	0.27	–	Tricolour Flame	3,848	0.29	–
	David Gramiccioli	3,530	0.23	–	Dolphin National Movement	3,149	0.24	–
	Alessandra Sarti Magi	2,655	0.18	–	New Force – National Social Front	2,603	0.20	–
	Valentina Valenti	2,593	0.17	–	Third Pole	2,650	0.20	–
	Roberto De Santis	1,091	0.07	–	Ecologists	943	0.07	–
	Umberto Nardinocchi	1,076	0.07	–	Active Democracy	985	0.08	–
	Marina Larena	707	0.05	–	Humanist Party	631	0.05	–
	Stefano Fuccelli	618	0.04	–	European Animalist Party	562	0.04	–
	Maurizio Giorgetti	351	0.02	–	Italian Dream	303	0.02	–
Total		1,509,194	100.00	1		1,306,717	100.00	59
Eligible voters		2,341,773	100.00
Did not vote		796,688	34.02
Voted		1,545,085	65.98
Blank or invalid ballots		35,891	2.32
Total valid votes		1,509,194	97.68
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Municipi election

All the leaders of each area in Rome were chosen in the first round of voting. The table below shows the results for each area.

Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service

Municipio	The Olive Tree	House of Freedoms	Elected President	Party
Municipio			Elected President	Party
I	61.8	37.3	Giuseppe Lobefaro	DL
II	53.9	44.7	Guido Bottini	DS
III	62.8	36.5	Orlando Corsetti	DL
IV	60.7	37.5	Alessandro Cardente	FdV
V	66.0	32.0	Ivano Caradonna	DS
VI	65.5	33.3	Teodoro Giannini	RnP
VII	64.1	34.2	Roberto Mastrantonio	IdV
VIII	62.2	35.9	Fabrizio Scorzoni	DS
IX	60.8	36.2	Susana Ana Maria Fantino	PRC
X	65.4	33.3	Sandro Medici	PRC
XI	64.1	34.3	Andrea Catarci	PRC
XII	57.7	41.8	Patrizia Prestipino	DL
XIII	59.3	39.3	Paolo Ornelli	DS
XV	61.6	37.2	Giovanni Paris	DL
XVI	61.2	37.4	Fabio Bellini	DS
XVII	54.5	44.3	Antonella De Giusti	DL
XVIII	52.1	46.9	Maria Giovanna Filardi	DS
XIX	57.8	40.2	Fabio Lazzara	DS
XX	48.1	50.0	Massimiliano Fasoli	UDC

2006 Rome municipal election