Municipal elections were held in Rome on 16 November 1997 to elect the Mayor of Rome and 60 members of the City Council.
As a result of the election the outgoing Mayor Francesco Rutelli was re-elected on the first round with the 60% of votes.
Background
The 1996 general elections showed a strong performance by the centre-left coalition, especially in the city of Rome. Since that moment the political support to leftist parties in the Eternal City started to increase heavily, although the former-fascist National Alliance (AN) party continued to maintain a huge number of supporters across the city.
The 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.
