The City Council of Rome or Capitoline Assembly (Italian: Assemblea Capitolina) is the top tier legislative body of Rome, Italy. It consists of the directly elected mayor of Rome and of an elected 48-member assembly. It represents a legislative body which can also control the mayor's policy guidelines and be able to enforce their resignation by a motion of no confidence.

Capitoline Assembly

Assemblea Capitolina
Coat of arms or logo
History
Founded29 November 1870
Leadership
President
Svetlana Celli, PD
since 4 November 2021
Roberto Gualtieri, PD
since 21 October 2021
Structure
Seats48
Political groups

Mayoral majority (29)
  •   PD (18)
  •   Gualtieri List (5)
  •   SCE (2)
  •   Future Rome (2)
  •   DemoS (1)
  •   EV (1)

Opposition (19)

Elections
Last election
3-4 October 2021
Meeting place
Palazzo Senatorio
Website
www.comune.roma.it/web/it/assemblea-capitolina.page

The city council is elected for a five-year term and 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 seats for each party is determined by a mechanism of majority bonus.

The city council meets at Palazzo Senatorio, seated in Piazza del Campidoglio.

Composition

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The Council meeting room.

The political system of the Comuni of Italy was changed in 1993, when a semi-presidential system for the mayoral election was introduced. If until that year the council was elected under a pure proportional system and the council had the power to elect and dismiss the mayor of Rome, since 1993 the mayor and the council are jointly elected by citizens, with an electoral law that assures to the elected mayor a political majority in the council.

Under this system, the election of the mayor is prior over the election of the council. Voters express a direct choice for the mayor or an indirect choice voting for the party of the candidate's coalition and this gives a result whereby the winning candidate is able to claim majority support in the new council. The candidate who is elected mayor has always a majority of 62% of seats (29 seats) in the city council, which will support him during his term. The seats for each party of the coalition which wins the majority is determined proportionally.

In this type of system, the council is generally elected for a five-year term, but, if the mayor suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt, simul cadent clause introduced in 1993 (literally they will stand together or they will fall together), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.

The City Committee (Italian: giunta comunale), the executive body of the city, chosen and presided directly by the mayor, is generally composed by members of the city council, which lost their membership into the assembly.

Functions

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The council acts as the supreme legislative body of the city. It is convened and chaired by a speaker (president del consiglio comunale) appointed by the council itself.

The council can decide over programs and public works projects, institution and system of taxes, the general rules for the use of goods and services, forecasting and reporting financial statements. Resolution basic acts attributed by law to its competence are the municipal statute, the regulations, the general criteria on the structure of offices and services.

Speakers

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This is a list of the speakers (Italian: presidenti del consiglio comunale) of the city council since the 1993 electoral reform:

Name Period Legislature start date
Teodoro Buontempo (MSI) 7 December 1993 12 September 1994 5 December 1993
Enrico Gasbarra (PDS) 12 September 1994 25 March 1997
Luisa Laurelli (PDS) 7 April 1997 17 November 1997
11 December 1997 8 January 2001 17 November 1997
Council suspended (8 January 2001 – 1 June 2001)
Giuseppe Mannino (Ind) 26 June 2001 1 June 2006 1 June 2001
Mirko Coratti (Ind) 3 July 2006 13 February 2008 1 June 2006
Council suspended (13 February 2008 – 28 April 2008)
Marco Pomarici (PdL) 26 May 2008 12 June 2013 28 April 2008
Mirko Coratti (PD) 1 July 2013 2 December 2014 12 June 2013
Valeria Baglio (PD) 2 December 2014 31 October 2015
Council suspended (31 October 2015 – 22 June 2016)
Marcello De Vito (M5S) 7 July 2016 21 October 2021 22 June 2016
Svetlana Celli (PD) 4 November 2021 Incumbent 21 October 2021

Political composition

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Historical composition

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Election DC PCI PSI PLI PRI PSDI MSI UQ Monarchists Others
10 November 1946 17 30 4 6 0 0 17 5 1
12 October 1947 27 28 1 5 0 3 8 4 4
25 May 1952 39 16 6 3 4 8 0 3 1
27 May 1956 27 20 9 3 1 3 10 0 2 1
6 November 1960 28 19 11 3 1 3 12 0 3 0
10 June 1962 24 19 10 6 1 5 13 0 2 0
12 June 1966 26 21 6 9 1 8 7 0 1 1
13 June 1971 24 21 7 3 3 8 13 0 0 1
20 June 1976 27 30 6 1 3 3 8 0 0 2
21 June 1981 25 31 8 2 3 4 7 0 0 0
12 May 1985 28 26 8 2 3 3 7 0 0 3
29 October 1989 27 23 11 1 3 2 6 0 0 6
Election Majority Opposition Total Council Mayor
21 November 1993 18 PDS
10 FdV
5 AD
3 LP
14 MSI
6 DC
3 PRC
1 PRI
60     Francesco Rutelli
16 November 1997 15 PDS
6 PRC
4 FdV
3 PPI
8 Others
15 AN
6 FI
2 CCD
1 MS-FT
60  
13 May 2001 15 DS
7 DL
3 PRC
2 FdV
9 Others
11 AN
11 FI
1 CCD
1 Other
60     Walter Veltroni
28 May 2006 23 The Olive Tree
3 PRC
3 FdV
9 Others
14 AN
6 FI
2 UDC
60  
13 April 2008 35 PdL
1 Other
18 PD
2 SA
1 IdV
1 LD
1 UDC
1 Other
60     Gianni Alemanno
26 May 2013 19 PD
4 SEL
1 CD
5 Others
8 PdL
4 M5S
2 FdI
5 Others
48     Ignazio Marino
5 June 2016 29 M5S 8 PD
6 FdI
4 FI
1 SI
48     Virginia Raggi

Current composition

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Election Majority Opposition Total Council Mayor
3 October 2021 18 PD
2 SCE
DemoS
1 EV
7 Others
5 FdI
4 M5S
3 A
2 IV
2 Lega
1 UDC
1 FI
1 Other
48     Roberto Gualtieri

References

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