2001 Rome municipal election

2001 Rome mayoral election

← 1997 13 May 2001 and 27 May 2001 2006 →
Turnout	79.4% (first round) 74.2% (second round)
Candidate Walter Veltroni Antonio Tajani Party Democrats of the Left Forza Italia Alliance The Olive Tree House of Freedoms Popular vote 800,275 746,846 Percentage 48.3% 45.1% Popular vote (2nd) 871,930 799,363 Percentage (2nd) 52.2% 47.8%
Mayor before election Francesco Rutelli Elected Mayor Walter Veltroni

Municipal elections were held in Rome on 13 May 2001, the same day of Italian general elections.

The outgoing Mayor Francesco Rutelli, prevented to run for a third consecutive term by the Italian law on local government, had resigned from his position on 8 January that year to run as the main candidate of the centre-left coalition in the national general election.

The two main candidates were the former Minister of Cultural Heritage, former Deputy Prime Minister and current secretary of the Democrats of the Left (DS) party Walter Veltroni and the liberal-conservative MEP Antonio Tajani, a prominent member of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party.

Since none of the candidates obtained the majority of votes on the first round, a second round vote was held on 27 May 2001.

Background[]

Following the end of the Legislature XIII of Italy, Rutelli was chosen to lead the centre-left coalition during the 2001 general election and resigned as Mayor of Rome on 8 January 2001, just two days after the end of the Great Jubilee on which he had spent all his second term.

Mayoral election[]

The centre-right coalition, led by Antonio Tajani, had been heavily defeated by Rutelli in the 1997 election. Tajani rejected a formal alliance with the far-right parties and preferred a liberal-conservative coalition, like the one which supported Silvio Berlusconi in the general election.

Thanks to the overlap with the general election, which saw a huge victor of the House of Freedoms alliance, the centre-right coalition unexpectedly succeeded to win the majority of votes across the city. Although a strong performance of his coalition, Tajani wasn't able to win the race and on the second round he had to concede to Veltroni, who showed to have a strong support in the city. Despite the lower number of votes, the centre-left coalition obtained the majority of seats in the City Council thanks to the electoral system's mechanisms.

Voting System[]

The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city 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. This gives a result whereby the winning candidate may be able to claim majority support, although it is not guaranteed.

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.

Results[]

Summary of the 2001 Rome City Council election results

Candidates		I round		II round		Leaders seats	Parties	Votes	%	Seats
		Votes	%	Votes	%
	Walter Veltroni	800,275	48.35	871,930	52.17	–	Democrats of the Left	238,092	17.64	15
							Veltroni List	146,463	10.85	9
							The Daisy	111,315	8.25	7
							Communist Refoundation Party	61,728	4.57	3
							Federation of the Greens	31,698	2.35	2
							Party of Italian Communists	15,462	1.15	–
							Italian Democratic Socialists	9,244	0.68	–
	Antonio Tajani	746,846	45.12	799,363	47.83	1	National Alliance	283,922	21.04	11
							Forza Italia	259,514	19.23	10
							Christian Democratic Centre – United Christian Democrats	41,148	3.05	1
							Tajani List	37,393	2.77	1
							European Democracy (A)	28,905	2.14	–
							New Italian Socialist Party	8,268	0.61	–
							Italian Republican Party	3,136	0.23	–
							Liberal Party – Greens Greens	2,958	0.22	–
							Pensioners and Disabled	1,985	0.15	–
							Modern Democracy	1,584	0.12	–
							Active Democracy	1,025	0.08	–
	Sergio D'Antoni	40,025	2.42	–	–	–	(A)
							United Pensioners	4,686	0.35	–
	Giovanni Roma	19,064	1.15	–	–	–	Italy of Values	17,917	1.33	–
	Angiolo Bandinelli	16,483	1.00	–	–	–	Bonino List	14,236	1.05	–
	Isabella Rauti	9,551	0.58	–	–	–	Tricolour Flame	8,709	0.65	–
	Adriano Tilgher	5,937	0.36	–	–	–	National Social Front	5,361	0.40	–
	Guido Mussolini	3,497	0.21	–	–	–	New Force	2,732	0.20	–
	Alessandro Cicero	3,294	0.20	–	–	–	Pole of the Centre	1,649	0.12	–
	Dario Di Francesco	2,996	0.18	–	–	–	Avanti Lazio	2,738	0.20	–
	Mario Adinolfi	1,587	0.10	–	–	–	Direct Democracy	1,543	0.11	–
	Michele Capuano	1,539	0.09	–	–	–	Popular Democracy	1,609	0.12	–
	Giuseppe Conti	1,152	0.07	–	–	–	Independent Movement for Animal Rights	1,091	0.08	–
	Antonio Licata	1,125	0.07	–	–	–	European Populars	1,984	0.15	–
	Loredana Cici	1,010	0.06	–	–	–	Humanist Party	856	0.06	–
	Maurizio Saracini	710	0.04	–	–	–	Italy of Citizens	739	0.05	–
Total		1,655,091	100.00	1,671,293	100.00	1		1,349,690	100.00	59
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Municipi election[]

Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the first round:

Table below shows the results for each municipio with the percentage for each coalition on the second round:

Source: Municipality of Rome - Electoral Service

Notes[]