2011 Milan municipal election: Difference between revisions

2011 Milan mayoral election
Turnout	67.6% 0.1 pp (first round); 67.4% 0.2 pp (second round)
Mayor before election; Letizia Moratti;	Elected mayor ; Giuliano Pisapia;

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Municipal elections were held in Milan on 15–16 and 29–30 May 2011 to elect the Mayor and the 48 members of the City Council, as well as the nine presidents and 359 councillors of the nine administrative zones in which the municipality is divided.

The incumbent Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, was defeated by Giuliano Pisapia.

As a result of the election, Pisapia was elected on the second round becoming the first leftist mayor of Milan after nearly 20 years. The centre-left coalition gained control of 29 seats in the City Council.^[2]

Background

Centre-left primary election

In June 2010, Pisapia was the first to submit his own nomination as the Mayor of Milan, for the elections that would take place the following year. A number of intellectuals and notable people from the cultural and political elite of Milan immediately expressed their support to Pisapia.

On 14 November 2010 he ran for the open primary election of the centre-left coalition led by the Democratic Party, with the support of Nichi Vendola's Left Ecology Freedom, and unexpectedly won (receiving 45% preferences) despite not being an actual member of the PD:^[3]

Candidate		Supported by	Votes (%)
bgcolor="Template:Left Ecology Freedom/meta/color" \|	Giuliano Pisapia	SEL, FdS	45.36%
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Stefano Boeri	PD	40.16%
bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" \|	Valerio Onida	none	13.41%
bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" \|	Michele Sacerdoti	none	1.07%
Total			100.00

Total voters: 67,499

Campaign

At the beginning of the campaign, incumbent Mayor Letizia Moratti was thought to be largely advantaged, especially as Milan is traditionally a right-wing stronghold, the homeland of Silvio Berlusconi's party (to which Moratti belongs), as well as a symbol of the alliance between Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi's Lega Nord, a party that promotes a greater independence of Northern Italy. Both Bossi and Berlusconi repeatedly declared that the left wing had no chance to win the elections in Milan, and Berlusconi himself actively contributed in the campaign, possibly to reaffirm his appeal to the Italian people leveraging on the results of what was supposed to be an easy match.^[4] Berlusconi warned that if Moratti was defeated, Milan would become a "Gypsytown" and an "Islamic city".^[5] The Milan Islamic Center criticized these remarks.^[6]

As Berlusconi had recently been involved in a number of controversial matters, including the so-called Ruby Gate, many observers described the elections in Milan as a poll that would assess the popular support of Berlusconi's politics.^[4] This attracted much attention to this particular election (one of many administrative elections held in the same days in several locations in Italy).

Voting system

The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy of cities with a population higher than 15,000. 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 at least 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.

For zones the voting system is the same, not referred to the mayor but to the president of the zone.

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

This is a list of the major parties (and their respective leaders) which participated in the election.

Political party or alliance		Constituent lists		Candidate
rowspan=6 style="background-color:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color"\|	Centre-left coalition	bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Party	Giuliano Pisapia
bgcolor="Template:Left Ecology Freedom/meta/color" \|		Left Ecology Freedom
bgcolor="Template:Italy of Values/meta/color" \|		Italy of Values
bgcolor="Template:Communist Refoundation Party/meta/color" \|		Federation of the Left
bgcolor="Template:Italian Radicals/meta/color" \|		Italian Radicals
bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" \|		Federation of the Greens
rowspan="6" style="background:Template:Centre-right Coalition/meta/color;"\|	Centre-right coalition	bgcolor="Template:The People of Freedom/meta/color" \|	The People of Freedom	Letizia Moratti
bgcolor="Template:Lega Nord/meta/color" \|		Lega Nord
bgcolor="Template:The Right (Italy)/meta/color" \|		The Right
		I Love Italy
bgcolor="Template:The Populars of Italy Tomorrow/meta/color" \|		The Populars of Italy Tomorrow
		Alliance of the Centre
	Centrist coalition		New Pole for Italy	Manfredi Palmeri
	Centrist coalition	bgcolor="Template:Union of the Centre (2008)/meta/color" \|	Union of the Centre	Manfredi Palmeri
style="background-color:Template:Five Star Movement/meta/color"\|	Five Star Movement			Mattia Calise

Results

In the first round of elections, on 15–16 May 2011, Pisapia got 48% of the votes and Moratti 41%. As none of them exceeded 50%, a second face-to-face round was scheduled for 29–30 May. This first success of Pisapia was one of a number of successes of the left wing in several other cities and provinces. With the campaign reaching ever harsher tones than before, Pisapia finally won on 30 May, with 55% of the votes.^[7] Internet and social networks played a relevant role in the election of Pisapia.^[8]^[9]^[10]

The candidate of Beppe Grillo's party Five Star Movement, Mattia Calise, who was only 20 years old, obtained nearly 3.5% of the votes.

Candidate		Party or Coalition	First round		Second round
Candidate		Party or Coalition	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Giuliano Pisapia	Centre-left	315,862	48.05	365,657	55.10
	Letizia Moratti	Centre-right	273,401	41.60	297,874	44.90
	Manfredi Palmeri	New Pole	36,471	5.54
	Mattia Calise	M5S	21,228	3.43
	Giancarlo Pagliarini	LP	4,229	0.64
	Marco Mantovani	FN	2,366	0.35
	Carla De Albertis	Independent	1,804	0.27
	Elisabetta Fatuzzo	PP	1,613	0.24
	Fabrizio Montuori	PCdL	405	0.06

Eligible voters			996,400	100.0	996,400	100.0
Did not vote			322,875	32.4	324,980	32.6
Voted			673,525	67.6	671,420	67.4
Blank or invalid ballots			15,838	2.4	7,889	1.2
Total valid votes			657,687	97.6	663,531	98.8

Summary of the 2011 Milan City Council election results
Parties and coalitions				Votes	%	Seats

	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Party (Partito Democratico)	PD	170,551	28.6%	20
	style="background-color:Template:Left Ecology Freedom/meta/color" \|	Left Ecology Freedom (Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà)	SEL	28,016	4.7%	3
	style="background-color:Template:Communist Refoundation Party/meta/color" \|	Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Comunista)	PRC	18,467	3.1%	2
	style="background-color:Template:Italy of Values/meta/color" \|	Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori)	IdV	15,145	2.5%	1
	style="background-color:Template:Italian Radicals/meta/color" \|	Italian Radicals (Radicali Italiani)	RI	10,215	1.7%	1
	style="background-color:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" \|	Others		39,100	6.5%	2
Pisapia coalition (Centre-left)				281,494	47.3%	29
	style="background-color:Template:People of Freedom/meta/color" \|	The People of Freedom (Il Popolo della Libertà)	PdL	171,222	28.7%	12
	style="background-color:Template:Lega Nord/meta/color" \|	Lega Nord	LN	57,403	9.6%	4
	style="background-color:Template:The Right (Italy)/meta/color" \|	The Right (La Destra)	LD	1,721	0.3%	0
	style="background-color:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" \|	Others		27,431	4.6%	1
Moratti coalition (Centre-right)				257,777	43.3%	17
style="background-color:Template:Union of the Centre (2008)/meta/color" \|	New Pole for Italy (Nuovo Polo per l'Italia)		NP-UDC	27,328	4.6%	1
style="background-color:Template:Five Star Movement/meta/color" \|	Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle)		M5S	20,438	3.4%	1
style="background-color:Template:Independent politician/meta/color" \|	Others			8,548	1.4%	0

Total				595,585	100%	48

Votes cast / turnout				673,185	67.1%
Registered voters				996,400

Source: Ministry of the Interior

According to each part's popular vote, the People of Freedom party (PdL) won a narrow victory over the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which however won the majority in the City Council.

Popular vote

PdL			28.75%
PD			28.64%
LN			9.64%
SEL			4.70%
M5S			3.43%
PRC			3.10%

Council Seats

PD			41.6%
PdL			22.9%
LN			8.3%
SEL			6.2%
PRC			4.2%
M5S			2.1%

Popular vote (coalition)

Centre-left			47.26%
Centre-right			43.28%
Centre			4.59%
M5S			3.43%

Council seats (coalition)

Centre-left			62.5%
Centre-right			33.3%
Centre			2.0%
M5S			2.0%

Results by zona

After the 2006 election, 8 zone were governed by the centre-right and only one by the centre-left. Then all were gained by the centre-left coalition.^[2]

Table below shows the results for each zona with the percentage for each candidate and president elected:

Zona	Centre-left		Centre-right		Centre		Others		Elected President	Party
	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color;" colspan="2"\|	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;" colspan="2"\|	style="background:Template:Union of the Centre (2008)/meta/color;" colspan="2"\|	style="background:Template:Other/meta/color;" colspan="2"\|
	votes	%	votes	%	votes	%	votes	%
1	23,596	47.3	22,377	44.9	3,597	7.2	323	0.6	Fabio Luigi Arrigoni	PD
2	29,910	45.8	28,372	43.5	3,797	5.8	3,204	4.9	Mario Villa	PD
3	36,423	49.5	29,002	39.4	4,283	5.8	3,875	5.3	Renato Sacristiani	PRC
4	36,752	48.8	30,668	40.8	3,895	5.2	3,938	5.2	Loredana Bigatti	PD
5	28,467	48.2	23,669	40.1	3,482	5.9	3,413	5.8	Aldo Ugliano	PD
6	35,852	49.1	29,111	39.8	4,088	5.6	4,016	5.5	Gabriele Rabaiotti	PD
7	38,140	45.6	35,392	42.4	5,652	6.8	4,383	5.2	Fabrizio Tellini	IdV
8	42,359	48.1	36,012	40.9	5,117	5.8	4,600	5.2	Simone Zambelli	SEL
9	40,064	49.3	32,786	40.3	3,978	4.9	4,450	5.5	Beatrice Uguccioni	PD

Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service

Table below shows the seats for each coalition in every zona 's Council:

Zona	Centre-left	Centre-right	Centre	Others	Total
Zona	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color;" \|	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;" \|	style="background:Template:Union of the Centre (2008)/meta/color;" \|	style="background:Template:Other/meta/color;" \|	Total
1	19	10	2	–	31
2	25	13	2	1	41
3	25	13	2	1	41
4	25	13	2	1	41
5	25	12	2	2	41
6	25	13	2	1	41
7	25	12	2	2	41
8	25	13	2	1	41
9	25	13	1	2	41

Total	219	112	17	11	359

Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service

Mayoral votes

Second round

Table below shows the results of the votes for mayoral candidates on the second round (29–30 May 2011) in each zona:

Zona	Giuliano Pisapia	Letizia Moratti	Turnout
Zona	style="background:Template:Centre-left coalition/meta/color;"\|	style="background:Template:Centre-right coalition/meta/color;"\|	Turnout
1	26,571 (51.2%)	25,323 (48.8%)	65.5%
2	35,462 (53.4%)	30,905 (46.6%)	67.7%
3	42,316 (56.3%)	32,783 (43.7%)	69.4%
4	42,685 (55.8%)	33,846 (44.2%)	67.3%
5	33,990 (56.6%)	26,023 (43.4%)	66.6%
6	42,608 (56.4%)	32,896 (43.6%)	66.7%
7	46,329 (54.1%)	39,228 (45.9%)	67.8%
8	48,989 (54.7%)	40,603 (45.3%)	67.0%
9	46,767 (56.4%)	36,207 (43.6%)	67.8%

Notes

^ Ministry of the Interior
^ ^a ^b http://www.comune.milano.it/dseserver/statistica/bancadatielettorale/consultazione.html
^ Teresa Montestiroli (November 14, 2010). "Primarie a Milano, Pisapia batte Boeri". La Repubblica. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Elisabetta Polovedo (May 11, 2011). "Berlusconi makes election in Milan all about him". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
^ "Silvio Berlusconi warns Milan could become 'Gypsytown'". BBC News. 2011-05-03.
^ "Italian PM under fire for opposing Milan mosque". Press TV. 2011-05-24. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05.
^ Jeffrey Donovan (May 30, 2011). "Berlusconi Coalition Defeated in Mayoral Races". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
^ Lorenzo Pregliasco (June 1, 2011). "Lo spartiacque di Milano". Termometro politico. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
^ Massimo Pisa (May 31, 2011). "Pisapia, una battaglia vinta sul web prima ancora che nei seggi elettorali". La Repubblica. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
^ Davide Casati (May 31, 2011). "Ecco perché Pisapia ha vinto le elezioni". GQ.com. Retrieved June 1, 2011.

[1] Ministry of the Interior

[comune.milano.it-2] ttp://www.comune.milano.it/dseserver/statistica/bancadatielettorale/consultazione.html

[3] Teresa Montestiroli (November 14, 2010). "Primarie a Milano, Pisapia batte Boeri". La Repubblica. Retrieved May 30, 2011.

[nytimes-4] Elisabetta Polovedo (May 11, 2011). "Berlusconi makes election in Milan all about him". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2011.

[5] "Silvio Berlusconi warns Milan could become 'Gypsytown'". BBC News. 2011-05-03.

[6] "Italian PM under fire for opposing Milan mosque". Press TV. 2011-05-24. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05.

[7] Jeffrey Donovan (May 30, 2011). "Berlusconi Coalition Defeated in Mayoral Races". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 30, 2011.

[termometro-8] Lorenzo Pregliasco (June 1, 2011). "Lo spartiacque di Milano". Termometro politico. Retrieved June 1, 2011.

[9] Massimo Pisa (May 31, 2011). "Pisapia, una battaglia vinta sul web prima ancora che nei seggi elettorali". La Repubblica. Retrieved June 3, 2011.

[gq-10] Davide Casati (May 31, 2011). "Ecco perché Pisapia ha vinto le elezioni". GQ.com. Retrieved June 1, 2011.

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