The re-election bid of Virginia Raggi of the Five-Star Movement ended on Monday, with two of her opponents squaring up for another round of voting. Meanwhile, Rachele Mussolini, the granddaughter of Italy’s fascist dictator, received the most votes in Rome’s local elections for the city council.
Virginia Raggi swept into power five years ago promising change. However, she was unable to turn around the degradation of services and quality of life that has become a hallmark of the capital.
Instead, Ms. Raggi, the first woman to govern Rome and its youngest mayor, became associated with the city’s decline. As a result, she and her party earned a national reputation for incompetence.
“As they say in Rome, I took on the most difficult part of the job and I did it with conviction,” she said. “Now those who come after me have no more excuses for not doing a good job, and we’re going to be watching them closely.”
Runoff election October 18
Viaggi lagged well behind the two leading candidates. Enrico Michetti, is a lawyer supported by several parties on the right. His opponent is Roberto Gualtieri, a former finance minister and the candidate of a center-left coalition led by the Democratic Party.
With no candidate winning more than half the vote, Mr. Michetti and Mr. Gualtieri will compete in a runoff election on Oct. 18. Ms. Raggi told her supporters that she would not openly back either man. “The vote is free. Votes are not packages to move around, nor are citizens cattle to be taken to pasture.”
Mussolini’s granddaughter wins in local elections
Meanwhile, Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter tops the polls among city councillors in Rome. Standing as a councillor for the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (FdL) party, Rachele Mussolini had won 4,435 votes by Tuesday afternoon – with the count continuing – reports Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Elected a city councillor in 2016, on a civic list supporting FdL leader Giorgia Meloni, this time Mussolini ran in this election on an FdL ticket.
Rachele is the daughter of actress Carla Maria Puccini and jazz pianist Romano Mussolini, the youngest son of Il Duce.
