2021 Bologna municipal election

2021 Bologna municipal election

←  2016 3–4 October 2021

Majority party Minority party   Candidate Matteo Lepore Fabio Battistini Party Democratic Party Independent Alliance Centre-left Centre-right Seats won 25 11 Popular vote 94,565 45,282 Percentage 61.9% 29.6%

Mayor before election Virginio Merola Democratic Party Elected mayor Matteo Lepore Democratic Party

The municipal elections in Bologna took place on 3 and 4 October 2021. The incumbent Mayor of Bologna was Virginio Merola of Democratic Party, who won the 2016 Bologna municipal election. The centre-left candidate Matteo Lepore won in a landslide with 62% of votes, becoming the most voted mayor since the introduction of direct elections in 1995. ^[1]

Electoral system

The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the cities 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 during the first round, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. The winning candidate obtains a majority bonus equal to 60% of seats. During the first round, if no candidate gets more than 50% of votes but a coalition of lists gets the majority of 50% of votes or if the mayor is elected in the first round but its coalition gets less than 40% of the valid votes, the majority bonus cannot be assigned to the coalition of the winning mayor candidate.

The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a maximum of two preferential votes, each for a different gender, belonging to the same party list: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally, using D'Hondt seat allocation. Only coalitions with more than 3% of votes are eligible to get any seats. ^[2]

Background

Centre-left primary election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%	Notes
	Matteo Lepore	Democratic Party	15,750	59.6%	[3]
	Isabella Conti	Italia Viva	10,672	40.4%	[4]
Total			26,422	100%

Endorsements

Matteo Lepore

• Anna Ascani (PD), current Vicepresident of the Democratic Party (2019–today) and Undersecretary for Economic Development (2021–today)
• Stefano Bonaccini (PD), current President of Emilia-Romagna (2014–today) ^[5]
• Emily Marion Clancy (SI), municipal councillor for Bologna (2016–today) ^[6]
• Giuseppe Conte (M5S), former Prime Minister (2018–2021)
• Valentina Cuppi (PD), current President of the Democratic Party (2020–today), mayor of Marzabotto (2019–today)
• Andrea De Maria (PD), Member of the Chamber of Deputies (2013–today), mayor of Marzabotto (1995–2004) ^[7]
• Vasco Errani (Art.1), former President of Emilia-Romagna (1999–2014)
• Cathy La Torre (Independent), lawyer and LGBT activist, municipal councillor for Bologna (2011–2016) ^[8]
• Nicola Fratoianni (SI), current Secretary of Italian Left (2017–2019; 2021–today) ^[9]
• Enrico Letta (PD), current Secretary of the Democratic Party (2021–today) and former Prime Minister (2013–2014) ^[10]
• Virginio Merola (PD), current Mayor of Bologna (2011–today) ^[11]
• Dario Nardella (PD), current Mayor of Florence (2014–today) ^[12]
• Romano Prodi (Independent), former Prime Minister (1996–1998; 2006–2008) ^[13]
• Peppe Provenzano (PD), current Deputy secretary of the Democratic Party (2021–today) and former Minister for Territorial Cohesion (2019–2021) ^[14]
• Mattia Santori (Independent), leader of the Sardines movement ^[15]
• Elly Schlein (GI), current Vicepresident of Emilia-Romagna (2020–today) ^[16]
• Nicola Zingaretti (PD), President of Lazio (2013–today) and former Secretary of the Democratic Party (2019–2021) ^[14]

Isabella Conti

• Alberto Aitini (PD), municipal assessor for Bologna (2016–today) ^[17]
• Mauro Felicori (Independent), regional assessor of Culture (2020–today) ^[18]
• Gian Luca Galletti (CpE), Minister of Environment (2014–2018), member of the Chamber of Deputies (2006–2013) ^[19]
• Elisabetta Gualmini (PD), Member of the European Parliament (2019–today) ^[20]
• Marco Lombardo (PD), municipal assessor for Bologna (2016–today) ^[21]
• Matteo Renzi (IV), member of the Senate of the Republic (2018–today), former Prime Minister (2014–2016) ^[22]
• Giampiero Veronesi (PD), Mayor of Anzola dell'Emilia (2014–today) ^[23]

Parties and candidates

This is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which will participate in the election. ^[24]

Political force or alliance		Constituent lists		Candidate
	Centre-left coalition		Democratic Party	Matteo Lepore
			Five Star Movement
			Matteo Lepore for Mayor
			Civic Coalition for Bologna (incl. SI, Art.1, Pos, èViva)
			You Also Count (incl. IV, +E)
			Green Europe
			Italian Socialist Party – Volt
	Centre-right coalition		Forza Italia – Union of the Centre	Fabio Battistini
			League
			Brothers of Italy
			Battistini for Mayor – We like Bologna (incl. È, NcI)
			The People of the Family
	Power to the People			Marta Collot
	Stefano Sermenghi for Mayor		Italexit (incl. Vox Italy)	Stefano Sermenghi
			BFC – Bologna Civic Forum
	3V Movement			Andrea Tosatto
	United Left for Bologna (incl. PRC, PCI)			Dora Palumbo
	August 24th Movement			Luca Labanti
	Workers' Communist Party			Federico Bacchiocchi

Opinion polls

Candidates

Date	Polling firm/ Client	Sample size	Lepore	Battistini	Others	Undecided	Lead
4 October 2021	Election result	-	61.9	29.6	8.5	-	32.3
12–15 Sep 2021	Noto	1,000	60.0	34.0	6.0	22.0	36.0
7–10 Sep 2021	Quorum	805	59.5	32.1	8.4	42.0	27.4
3–8 Sep 2021	Quorum	806	60.1	32.5	4.0–8.0	7.4	27.6
7 Sep 2021	Opinio	—	58.0	37.0	6.0	17.4	21.0
24–26 Aug 2021	BiDiMedia	822	63.5	28.0	8.5	26.0	35.5
13–18 Aug 2021	Winpoll	800	61.6	27.1	11.3	—	34.5
17 Aug 2021	Opinio	—	57.0	38.0	5.0	—	19.0
3–5 Aug 2021	Demopolis	1,502	49.0	36.0	15.0	38.0	13.0

Parties

Date	Polling firm	Sample size	Centre-left	Centre-right				Others	Undecided	Lead
			PD	M5S	CC	+E–IV	Other				Lega	FI	FdI	Other
4 October 2021	Election result	-	36.5	3.4	7.3	5.7	10.1	7.7	3.8	12.6	4.9	7.9	-	23.9
3–8 Sep 2021	Quorum	806	40.8	8.1	—		11.2	16.3	5.8	11.9	2.2	3.7	34.7	24.5
24–26 Aug 2021	BiDiMedia	822	35.9	5.1	10.4	5.3	7.1	8.3	3.5	13.6	2.7	8.1	23.0	24.8
19–24 Apr 2021	BiDiMedia	1,338	33.2	1.9	12.0	10.7	9.6	3.1	11.1	5.3	7.0	6.1	26.0	22.1
16–19 Sep 2020	Quorum	1,010	38.6	3.0	9.4	4.1	18.9	18.9	8.3	5.6	6.3	5.8	40.0	19.7
5 June 2016	Election result	–	35.5	16.6	13.4			10.3	6.3	2.4	14.3	1.4	–	18.9

Results

Summary of the 2021 Bologna City Council election results

Candidates		1st round		Leader's seats	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
		Votes	%
	Matteo Lepore	94,565	61.90	–		Democratic Party	53,486	36.50	16
						Civic Coalition for Bologna	10,722	7.32	3
						Matteo Lepore for Mayor	9,303	6.35	3
						You Also Count	8,376	5.72	2
						Five Star Movement	4,938	3.37	1
						Green Europe	4,113	2.81	1
						Italian Socialist Party – Volt	1,335	0.91	–
					Total		92,273	62.96	25
	Fabio Battistini	45,282	29.64	1		Brothers of Italy	18,514	12.63	5
						League	11,346	7.74	3
						Battistini For Mayor	6,640	4.53	1
						Forza Italia – Union of the Centre	5,561	3.79	1
						The People of the Family	598	0.41	–
					Total		42,659	29.11	10
	Marta Collot	3,801	2.49	–		Power to the People	3,355	2.29	–
	Stefano Sermenghi	3,053	2.00	–		BFC – Bologna Civic Forum	1,599	1.09	–
						Italexit – Civic List for Bologna	1,075	0.73	–
					Total		2,674	1.82	–
	Andrea Tosatto	2,497	1.63	–		3V Movement	2,428	1.66	–
	Dora Palumbo	2,433	1.59	–		United Left – Communist Refoundation – PCI	2,144	1.46	–
	Federico Bacchiocchi	625	0.41	–		Workers' Communist Party	597	0.41	–
	Luca Labanti	508	0.33	–		August 24th Movement	423	0.29	–
Total		152.764	100.00	1			146,553	100.00	35
Source: Ministry of the Interior Archived 2021-10-05 at the Wayback Machine

Notes: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, he/she is automatically elected communal councilor (Battistini); see Italian electoral law of 1993 for Comuni. The candidate elected Mayor is not a member of communal council, but Merola votes in the communal council (see Italian electoral law 1993).

Popular vote PD   36.50% FdI   12.63% Lega   7.74% CC   7.32% Lepore   6.35% ATC   5.72% Battistini   4.53% FI   3.79% M5S   3.37% EV   2.81% PaP   2.29% M3V   1.66% SU   1.46% Others   3.83%

Mayor Lepore   61.90% Battistini   29.64% Collot   2.49% Sermenghi   2.00% Tosatto   1.63% Palumbo   1.59% Bacchiocchi   0.41% Labanti   0.33%

Seats summary Centre-left   69.44% Centre-right   30.56%

See also

• 2021 Italian local elections

References

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