Rome Elects Its First Female Mayor
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - An anti-establishment outsider has been elected mayor of Rome and become the first woman to run the Italian capital.
Virginia Raggi, the Five Star Movement’s (M5S) candidate, won 67 per cent of the vote in the run-off ballot with the Democratic party’s Roberto Giachetti.
Giachetti conceded defeat less than an hour after polls closed on Sunday.
“For the first time Rome has a female mayor in an age where equality of opportunity remains a mirage,” Raggi, 37, said in her victory speech, the Guardian reported.
“I will be a mayor for all Romans. I will restore legality and transparency to the city’s institutions after 20 years of poor governance. With us a new era is opening.”
The win by the M5S marks a direct challenge to the Democratic prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and reflects the electorate’s seething discontent with mainstream political parties.
Founded by comedian Beppe Grillo after the economic crisis, M5S received a quarter of the vote in the 2013 national elections but has until now failed to shake off its reputation as a protest party. With Raggi expected to take the reins in Rome when the outcome is announced on Monday, the movement would enter the heart of decision-making in the country’s capital.
