2016 Milan municipal election

2016 Milan mayoral election
Turnout	54.6% 13.0 pp (first round) ; 51.8% 2.8 pp (second round)
	Result of second round voting by Milan municipalities. Red municipalities are those with most votes for Sala and Azure those for Parisi.
Mayor before election; Giuliano Pisapia ; Independent	Elected Mayor; Giuseppe Sala ; Independent

Last updated July 17, 2023

Municipal elections were held in Milan on 5 and 19 June 2016 to elect the Mayor and the 48 members of the City Council, as well as the nine presidents and 270 councillors of the nine administrative zones in which the municipality is divided, each one having one president and 30 councillors.

As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates – Giuseppe Sala, an independent business executive and Milan Expo 2015 CEO, close to the Democratic Party (PD), and Stefano Parisi, former CEO of the telecommunication company Fastweb close to Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) – which Sala won by a narrow margin.

The new Mayor was also appointed by law as general Mayor of the former Province of Milan now called Metropolitan City of Milan.

Background

Centre-left primary election

On 22 March 2015, the incumbent Mayor Giuliano Pisapia announced that he had chosen not to run for re-election in 2016 for a second term in office. Following Pisapia's decision, the ruling centre-left coalition decided to call an open primary election to choose a new mayoral candidate.^[3]

Four people registered to be candidates in this election: Giuseppe Sala, business executive and Milan Expo 2015 CEO;^[4] Francesca Balzani, deputy mayor, responsible for Budget in the Milan's municipal government and former MEP;^[5] Pierfrancesco Majorino, responsible for Social Equalities in the municipal government of the city;^[6] Antonio Iannetta, former president of UISP (Italian Sport Union for Everyone).

The election took place on 6–7 February 2016:

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Giuseppe Sala	Independent	25,600	42.33
	Francesca Balzani	PD	20,516	33.92
	Pierfrancesco Majorino	PD	13,916	23.01
	Antonio Iannetta	Independent	443	0.73
Total			60,475	100.00

Total voters: 60,900

Centre-right candidacy

On 10 February 2016, Stefano Parisi, former City manager of Milan (1997-2001), announced his acceptance to become the centre-right coalition candidate for the mayoral election, a role proposed to him by the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.^[7] Parisi is also the former CEO of the telecommunication company Fastweb; Parisi in last 2015 was the manager of Corrado Passera's early mayoral campaign for their party, Unique Italy: Passera retired to run for Major when Parisi resigned after a meeting with Berlusconi.

Others

On 8 November 2015, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement choose its own candidate with a closed primary election. The 52-year-old unemployed activist Patrizia Bedori was chosen as official mayoral candidate. On that date no official data were provided by the movement.^[8] However, on 12 March 2016 Bedori stepped down from the candidacy, saying tearful during an assembly that she wasn't the right person to represent the movement. Afterwards on 24 March 2016 with a closed virtual primary on the web, the Five Star Movement choose its new candidate, Gianluca Corrado, who received 632 votes out of 876.^[9]

Voting system

The semipresidential voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy of cities with a population higher than 15,000 for the sixth time. 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.

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

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 losing party is determined proportionally.

Parties and candidates

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

		Candidate
Centre-left coalition	Democratic Party	Giuseppe Sala
	Beppe Sala for Mayor – We, Milan
	Left for Milan
	Italy of Values
Centre-right coalition	Forza Italia	Stefano Parisi
	Northern League
	Brothers of Italy
	Popular Area
	Unique Italy
	Pensioners' Party
Milan in Common (incl. PRC, PCdI, POS, AET and PU)		Basilio Rizzo
Five Star Movement		Gianluca Corrado
Italian Radicals		Marco Cappato

Opinion polling

Results

Summary of the 2016 Milan City Council and Mayoral election results
Candidates		1st round		2nd round		Leader's seat	Parties		Votes	%	Seats

Candidates		Votes	%	Votes	%	Leader's seat	Parties		Votes	%	Seats
	Giuseppe Sala	224,156	41.70	264,481	51.70	–		Democratic Party	145,933	28.97	22
								Beppe Sala for Mayor – We, Milan	38,674	7.68	5
								Left for Milan	19,281	3.83	2
								Italy of Values	3,454	0.69	–
								Total	207,342	41.20	29
	Stefano Parisi	219,218	40.78	247,052	48.30	Y		Forza Italia	101,802	20.21	8
								Northern League	59,313	11.77	4
								Popular Milan	15,803	3.14	1
								Parisi List – Unique Milan	15,215	3.02	1
								Brothers of Italy	12,197	2.42	–
								Pensioners' Party	2,164	0.43	–
								Total	206,494	40.99	14
	Gianluca Corrado	54,099	10.06	–	–	Y		Five Star Movement	52,376	10.40	2
	Basilio Vincenzo Rizzo	19,143	3.56	–	–	Y		Milan in Common	17,635	3.50	–
	Marco Cappato	10,104	1.88	–	–	–		Ecologist Lay Federalist Radicals	9,390	1.86	–
	Nicolò Mardegan	6,018	1.12	–	–	–		The People of Family	5,804	1.15	–
	Natale Azzaretto	2,220	0.41	–	–	–		Workers' Communist Party	2,108	0.42	–
	Luigi Santambrogio	1,483	0.28	–	–	–		Municipal Alternative	1,477	0.29	–
	Maria Teresa Baldini	1,143	0.21	–	–	–		Fuxia People	1,095	0.22	–
Total		537,584	100.00	511,533	100.00	3			503,721	100.00	45
Eligible voters		1,006,701	100.00	1,006,701	100.00
Voted		550,194	54.65	521,487	51.80
Did not vote		456,507	45.35	485,214	48.20
Blank or invalid ballots		12,610	2.30	9,954	1.90
Total valid votes		537,584	97.70	511,533	98.10
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Note: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, the mayoral candidate is automatically elected city councilor.

The candidate elected Major is not a member of the City Council, but has the right to vote in the City Council; if Stefano Parisi will resign, his seat in the City Council will pass to Riccardo De Corato (former Deputy Major, 1997-2011), first candidate of Brothers of Italy (FdI), because this list is the first list in the coalition under the electoral threshold.

Popular vote

PD			28.97%
FI			20.20%
LN			11.77%
M5S			10.39%
Sala list			7.67%
SxM			3.82%
MC			3.50%
MP			3.13%
Others			10.55%

Council Seats

PD			45.83%
FI			18.75%
Sala list			10.42%
LN			8.33%
M5S			6.25%
SxM			4.12%
MC			2.1%
MP			2.1%
Others			2.1%

Popular vote (coalition)

CSX			41.16%
CDX			40.99%
M5S			10.06%
MC			3.56%

Council Seats (coalition)

CSX			60.42%
CDX			31.25%
M5S			6.25%
MC			2.10%

Results by municipio

Presidents and Councils

After the 2011 election, all nine municipi were governed by the centre-left. Following the 2016 election, five were gained by the centre-right coalition and four by the centre-left.

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

Municipio	CSX		CDX		M5S		Others		Elected President	Party

	votes	%	votes	%	votes	%	votes	%
1	18,081	45.2	16,515	41.3	2,422	6.1	2,984	6.4	Fabio Luigi Arrigoni	PD
2	20,795	38.5	23,314	43.1	6,269	11.6	3,682	6.9	Samuele Piscina	LN
3	25,956	43.7	23,068	38.8	5,701	9.6	4,696	7.8	Caterina Antola	PD
4	25,149	41.2	25,368	41.6	6,392	10.5	4,111	6.8	Paolo Guido Giancarlo Maria Bassi	LN
5	19,563	40.7	19,684	41.0	5,676	11.8	3,104	8.4	Alessandro Bramanti	NCD
6	24,738	41.7	23,860	40.2	6,800	11.5	3,942	6.7	Santo Minniti	PD
7	27,019	39.7	28,852	42.3	7,740	11.4	4,496	6.6	Marco Bestetti	FI
8	30,526	42.6	28,836	40.2	7,904	11.0	4,432	6.1	Simone Zambelli	SI
9	26,295	38.9	27,638	40.9	8,720	12.9	4,904	7.2	Giuseppe Antonio Lardieri	FI

Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service

Table below shows the seats for each coalition in every Municipal Council:

Municipio	CSX	CDX	M5S	Others	Total
Municipio					Total
1	18	11	1	–	30
2	9	18	3	–	30
3	18	10	2	–	30
4	10	18	2	–	30
5	10	18	2	–	30
6	18	10	2	–	30
7	10	18	2	–	30
8	18	10	2	–	30
9	9	18	3	–	30

Total	120	131	19	–	270

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 (19 June 2016) in each municipio:

Municipio	Giuseppe Sala	Stefano Parisi	Turnout
Municipio			Turnout
1	21,966 (52.6%)	19,808 (47.4%)	50.7%
2	25,527 (49.6%)	25,948 (50.4%)	51.8%
3	32,367 (55.0%)	26,452 (45.0%)	54.2%
4	30,506 (51.4%)	28,801 (48.6%)	52.0%
5	23,936 (52.2%)	21,929 (47.8%)	50.7%
6	29,941 (52.5%)	27,074 (47.5%)	50.7%
7	32,701 (50.2%)	32,386 (49.8%)	52.1%
8	35,041 (50.9%)	33,735 (49.1%)	52.1%
9	32,402 (51.1%)	31,016 (48.9%)	51.4%

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References

↑ According to the Italian Law, the first round of local elections in Italy must always be held on a sunday between 15 April and 15 June. The second round must always be held on a sunday after 14 days from first round.
↑ Oriana Liso (March 22, 2015). "L'annuncio di Pisapia: "Non mi ricandido"". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
↑ Oriana Liso (December 8, 2015). "Milano, il centrosinistra ha deciso: primarie il 7 febbraio". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
↑ Oriana Liso (December 22, 2015). "Milano, Giuseppe Sala ai blocchi di partenza". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
↑ Oriana Liso (December 16, 2015). "Milano, la vicesindaco Balzani si candida". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
↑ Oriana Liso (December 22, 2015). "Primarie Milano, Majorini ce l'ha fatta". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
↑ Sergio Rame (February 10, 2016). "Parisi in campo a Milano: sarà lui il candidato del centrodestra". Il Giornale. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
↑ Luca De Vito (November 8, 2015). "Milano, I grillini hanno scleto". La Repubblica. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
↑ Andrea Monatanri (March 24, 2016). "M5S, referendum a Milano". La Repubblica. Retrieved April 17, 2016.

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[1] According to the Italian Law, the first round of local elections in Italy must always be held on a sunday between 15 April and 15 June. The second round must always be held on a sunday after 14 days from first round.

[2] Oriana Liso (March 22, 2015). "L'annuncio di Pisapia: "Non mi ricandido"". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 22, 2015.

[3] Oriana Liso (December 8, 2015). "Milano, il centrosinistra ha deciso: primarie il 7 febbraio". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 22, 2015.

[4] Oriana Liso (December 22, 2015). "Milano, Giuseppe Sala ai blocchi di partenza". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 24, 2015.

[5] Oriana Liso (December 16, 2015). "Milano, la vicesindaco Balzani si candida". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 24, 2015.

[6] Oriana Liso (December 22, 2015). "Primarie Milano, Majorini ce l'ha fatta". La Repubblica. Retrieved December 24, 2015.

[7] Sergio Rame (February 10, 2016). "Parisi in campo a Milano: sarà lui il candidato del centrodestra". Il Giornale. Retrieved February 23, 2016.

[8] Luca De Vito (November 8, 2015). "Milano, I grillini hanno scleto". La Repubblica. Retrieved April 17, 2016.

[9] Andrea Monatanri (March 24, 2016). "M5S, referendum a Milano". La Repubblica. Retrieved April 17, 2016.

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