Rome's first female mayor takes victory lap after landslide win
ROME — The Eternal City's first female executive vowed Monday to be "a mayor for all Romans," as final election results showed her populist campaign winning in a landslide over a candidate representing Italy's political establishment.
Virginia Raggi, 37, an outsider from an upstart political party, won on a tide of voter anger over what many view as the mainstream political system's ties to corruption and cronyism. Official results showed Raggi won two-thirds of the vote in a runoff against Roberto Giachetti.
“What choice did we have?” said Renata Filiberti, 79, a retired schoolteacher. “We know the other parties are corrupt. Maybe someone new can save us.”
Raggi, formally presented as Rome’s 43rd mayor, is the highest-ranking official elected from the Five Star political movement created seven years ago by comedian-turned-activist Beppe Grillo.
“I will restore legality and transparency to the city’s institutions after 20 years of poor governance,” she vowed.
Raggi, an attorney, inherits a bloated city government with outdated infrastructure, inefficient services and $17 billion in debts. Romans have long complained about the poor state of historical monuments, deteriorating roads, unreliable public transport and infrequent trash collection.
“Rome is one of the world’s great cities,” said Nello Peluso, 55, a delivery driver. “I want Raggi to succeed, but I keep asking myself, how did we get to this point?”
Raggi's victory is the latest example of Europeans rejecting establishment politicians for new faces, often on the far left or right, in the face of severe economic discontent and concerns about a flood of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
Raggi’s Five Star movement, which also won the mayor's race in Turin, Italy’s fourth-largest city, has emerged as a major opposition party to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's political allies, who held onto power in mayoral races in Milan and Bologna.
“The Five Star movement has up until now been a rejectionist movement, rejecting the old political class,” said Franco Pavoncello, president of Rome’s John Cabot University and a frequent commentator. “Now they have to prove they can govern. In Rome, that is never easy.”
Five Star founder Grillo, 67, was at Raggi’s side to celebrate her victory. In 2013, Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine called him “the most dangerous man in Europe” because of his anti-democratic, populist rhetoric. Now he is guaranteed to have a hand in how the city is governed. During the campaign, Raggi signed an agreement promising to confer with Grillo and other party leaders on major municipal decisions.
Sunday's election is a blow to Renzi, 41, who has pursued an ambitious agenda of political change since becoming prime minister in 2014. His approval levels have been undermined since then by poor economic growth.
Raggi's victory also could hurt Rome’s chances of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics since she has said an Olympic bid was “costly, wasteful and unnecessary.”
Corina Alteri, 30, a bookstore clerk, said of a political novice taking charge, “Rome is a great city that has survived worse than this." She added, “I voted for Raggi. I don’t know if she can fix things, but Rome will survive no matter what happens."