Municipal elections were held in Bologna on 5 and 19 June 2016. The centre-left candidate Virginio Merola was elected mayor at the second round with 54.64% of votes.[1]
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Voting system
editThe 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.
Parties and candidates
editThis is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which will participate in the election.
| Political force or alliance | Constituent lists | Leader | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre-left coalition | Democratic Party | Virginio Merola | ||
| Common City with Amelia | ||||
| Bologna Alive | ||||
| Citizens for Bologna | ||||
| Bologna metropolitan hits the mark | ||||
| Centre-right coalition | Northern League | Lucia Borgonzoni | ||
| Forza Italia | ||||
| United We Win | ||||
| Brothers of Italy | ||||
| Let's take back Bologna | ||||
| Five Star Movement | Five Star Movement | Massimo Bugani | ||
| Popular Area | Together Bologna | Manes Bernardini | ||
| Left-wing coalition | Civic Coalition (incl. SEL and Possible) | Federico Martelloni | ||
| Federation of the Greens | Federation of the Greens | Matteo Badiali | ||
| Workers' Communist Party | Workers' Communist Party | Ermanno Lorenzoni | ||
| The People of Family | The People of Family | Mirko De Carli | ||
| Justice Honor Freedom | Justice Honor Freedom | Sergio Celloni | ||
Opinion polling
editResults
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| Candidates | 1st round | 2nd round | Leaders seats |
Parties | Votes | % | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||||
| Virginio Merola | 68,772 | 39.48 | 83,907 | 54.64 | – | Democratic Party | 60,066 | 35.46 | 21 | |
| Common City with Amelia | 4,917 | 2.90 | 1 | |||||||
| Federation of the Greens (A) | 2,574 | 1.52 | – | |||||||
| Bologna Alive | 1,416 | 0.84 | – | |||||||
| Citizens for Bologna | 1,325 | 0.78 | – | |||||||
| Bologna metropolitan hits the mark | 487 | 0.29 | – | |||||||
| Lucia Borgonzoni | 38,807 | 22.28 | 69,660 | 45.36 | 1 | Northern League | 17,376 | 10.26 | 3 | |
| Forza Italia | 10,614 | 6.27 | 2 | |||||||
| United We Win | 4,176 | 2.47 | – | |||||||
| Brothers of Italy | 4,073 | 2.40 | – | |||||||
| Let's take back Bologna | 1,025 | 0.61 | – | |||||||
| Massimo Bugani | 28,889 | 16.59 | – | – | 1 | Five Star Movement | 28,115 | 16.60 | 3 | |
| Manes Bernardini | 18,188 | 10.44 | – | – | 1 | Together Bologna | 16,844 | 9.94 | 1 | |
| Federico Martelloni | 12,188 | 7.00 | – | – | 1 | Civic Coalition | 12,017 | 7.09 | 1 | |
| Matteo Badiali | 2,645 | 1.52 | – | – | – | Federation of the Greens | 2,569 | 1.51 | – | |
| Ermanno Lorenzoni | 2,178 | 1.25 | – | – | – | Workers' Communist Party | 1,869 | 1.10 | – | |
| Mirko De Carli | 2,074 | 1.19 | – | – | – | The People of Family | 2,087 | 1.23 | – | |
| Sergio Celloni | 446 | 0.26 | – | – | – | Justice Honor Freedom | 428 | 0.25 | – | |
| Total | 174,187 | 100.00 | 153,567 | 100.00 | 4 | 169,409 | 100.00 | 32 | ||
| Source: Ministry of the Interior | ||||||||||
Notes: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, the mayoral candidate is automatically elected communal councilor (Borgonzoni, Bugani, Bernardini and Martelloni); see Italian electoral law of 1993 for Comuni. The candidate elected Mayor is not a member of communal council, but Merola votes in the communal council (see Italian electoral law 1993).