Centre-left’s Roberto Gualtieri voted new mayor of Rome

Romans have elected a centre-left former economy minister as their next mayor, rejecting by a large margin a right-wing contender dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism, near final results showed.

Published: 18 October 2021 17:18 CEST
Updated: 19 October 2021 08:47 CEST

Roberto Gualtieri gestures during a press conference following the first results in the second round of the Rome mayoral election on October 18, 2021 in Rome. Tiziana FABI / AFP

With counting complete in more than 92 percent of polling stations, Roberto Gualtieri was leading with more than 60 percent over the right-wing candidate Enrico Michetti, a lawyer and local talk radio host with no prior political experience.

“The result is clear cut. I wish good luck to Roberto Gualtieri,” the loser of the second-round run-off vote said in a concession statement.

Gualtieri, 55, is seen as a safe pair of hands.

A trained historian whose only known extravagance is a love for playing Brazilian music on the guitar, he served in government during 2019-2021, and was previously head of the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee.

His victory marked another setback for Italy’s right-wing bloc, which despite leading in national opinion polls, lost other key mayoral battles in a first round of local elections two weeks ago — namely in Milan, Naples and Bologna.

The result is another setback for Italy’s right-wing bloc, which has been leading national opinion polls for months.

It comprises Matteo Salvini’s nationalist League party, Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Brothers of Italy (FDI) and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.

Their parties fared relatively badly in the first round of the local elections two weeks ago, losing mayoral races in key towns such as Milan, Naples and Bologna.

Analysts do not expect the result of the two rounds of local voting to destabilise Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government, which is backed by a left-right coalition.

On Monday, the centre-left was also predicted a win in Turin, in the northwest. Both Rome and Turin were previously run by the formerly anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which suffered a rout.

Aside from the capital, more than 60 towns and cities held mayoral elections on Sunday and Monday, although there was a very low turnout.

Roberto Gualtieri at a press conference following the first results in the second round of the Rome mayoral election on October 18, 2021 in Rome.

Roberto Gualtieri at a press conference following the first results in the second round of the Rome mayoral election on October 18, 2021 in Rome. Tiziana FABI / AFP

In the Eternal City, the campaign was dominated by complaints about its state of disrepair, including a rubbish crisis so serious that overflowing dumpsters are attracting wild boars.

“Rome cannot resign itself to talking about just rubbish and potholes. Rome is a great European capital,” Gualtieri said at his closing electoral rally on Friday.

Michetti’s campaign was derailed last week when he was forced to deny accusations of anti-Semitism over an article he wrote last year that was unearthed by a left-wing newspaper.

In it, he said the Holocaust was commemorated more than other massacres because the Jews “control banks and a lobby capable of deciding the fate of the planet”.

Michetti had also previously suggested that the stiff-armed Roman salute – commonly used by fascists – should be used during the coronavirus pandemic because it was more hygienic.

The right-winger, 55, had no previous political experience before running for mayor. In Rome, he was known as a lawyer and a pundit on a local talk radio channel.

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.