Italy’s Five Star protest party wins Rome mayoral polls
Italy’s anti-establishment candidate, Virginia Raggi, has won the mayoral election in Rome and become the first woman to lead the capital.
Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer from the Five Star Movement, swept two-thirds of the votes cast in a run-off contest with her rival, Roberto Giachetti.
Giachetti, a candidate from Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) - Italy’s largest party- garnered between 31 to 35 percent of the vote.
The local elections were held in two stages, with a first round two weeks ago and the second round on Sunday.
“A new era is beginning with us,” said Raggi. “We'll work to bring back legality and transparency to the city's institutions.”
The new mayor, however, will find Rome mired in debts of more than $15 billion - twice its annual budget.
The city is also plagued with several other deteriorating problems such as potholes, piles of rubbish and serious deficiencies in public transport and housing.
With Raggi in the City Hall, the anti-establishment movement would have a platform for parliamentary elections due in 2018, according to observers.
Italy’s governing Democratic Party, which has secured Italy’s financial capital, Milan, and Bologna, has been under fire for widespread corruption charges.
The party has also been criticized for its management of the city over the past three years, with its mayor forced to resign in 2015 in a scandal over his expenses.
The Democratic Party has also suffered another defeat in Turin - the town it has traditionally dominated.
Another Five Star candidate, Chiara Appendino, won 51 to 55 percent of the vote and defeated incumbent Mayor Piero Fassino in the town on Sunday, according to exit polls.
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