2011 Milan municipal election

Municipal elections were held in Milan on 15–16 and 29–30 May 2011 to elect the Mayor and the 48 members of the City Council, as well as the nine presidents and 359 councillors of the nine administrative zones in which the municipality is divided.

2011 Milan municipal election

15–16 May 2011 (first round)
29–30 May 2011 (second round)
Turnout67.6% Increase 0.1 pp (first round)
67.4% Decrease 0.2 pp (second round)[1]
Mayoral election
 
Candidate Giuliano Pisapia Letizia Moratti
Party Independent People of Freedom
Alliance Centre-left Centre-right
1st Round vote 315,862 273,401
Percentage 48.1% 41.6%
2nd Round vote 365,657 297,874
Percentage 55.1% 44.9%

Mayor before election

Letizia Moratti
PdL

Elected Mayor

Giuliano Pisapia
Independent

City Council election

All 48 seats in City Council
25 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
Centre-left Giuliano Pisapia 47.26 29 +6
Centre-right Letizia Moratti 43.28 17 -19
New Pole Manfredi Palmeri 4.59 1 +1
M5S Mattia Calise 3.43 1 +1

The incumbent Mayor of Milan Letizia Moratti was defeated by the left-wing lawyer Giuliano Pisapia, ending 18 years of right-wing rule in the city government.

As a result of the election, Pisapia was elected on the second round becoming the first leftist mayor of Milan after nearly 20 years. The centre-left coalition gained control of 29 seats in the City Council.[2]

Background

Centre-left primary election

In June 2010, Pisapia was the first to submit his own nomination as the Mayor of Milan, for the elections that would take place the following year. A number of intellectuals and notable people from the cultural and political elite of Milan immediately expressed their support to Pisapia.

On 14 November 2010 he ran for the open primary election of the centre-left coalition led by the Democratic Party, with the support of Nichi Vendola's Left Ecology Freedom, and unexpectedly won (receiving 45% preferences) despite not being an actual member of the PD:[3]

Candidate Supported by Votes (%)
Giuliano Pisapia SEL, FdS 45.36%
Stefano Boeri PD 40.16%
Valerio Onida none 13.41%
Michele Sacerdoti none 1.07%
Total 100.00

Total voters: 67,499

Campaign

At the beginning of the campaign, incumbent Mayor Letizia Moratti was thought to be largely advantaged, especially as Milan is traditionally a right-wing stronghold, the homeland of Silvio Berlusconi's party (to which Moratti belongs), as well as a symbol of the alliance between Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi's Lega Nord, a party that promotes a greater independence of Northern Italy. Both Bossi and Berlusconi repeatedly declared that the left wing had no chance to win the elections in Milan, and Berlusconi himself actively contributed in the campaign, possibly to reaffirm his appeal to the Italian people leveraging on the results of what was supposed to be an easy match.[4] Berlusconi warned that if Moratti was defeated, Milan would become a "Gypsytown" and an "Islamic city".[5]

As Berlusconi had recently been involved in a number of controversial matters, including the so-called Ruby Gate, many observers described the elections in Milan as a poll that would assess the popular support of Berlusconi's politics.[4] This attracted much attention to this particular election (one of many administrative elections held in the same days in several locations in Italy).

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

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.

Political party or alliance Constituent lists Candidate
Centre-left coalition Democratic Party Giuliano Pisapia
Left Ecology Freedom
Italy of Values
Federation of the Left
Bonino-Pannella List
Federation of the Greens
Five Star Movement Mattia Calise
New Pole for Italy New Pole for Milan (incl. FLI, API and PLI) Manfredi Palmeri
Union of the Centre
Centre-right coalition The People of Freedom Letizia Moratti
Northern League
The Right
I Love Italy
The Populars of Italy Tomorrow
Alliance of the Centre

Results

In the first round of elections, on 15–16 May 2011, Pisapia got 48% of the votes and Moratti 41%. As none of them exceeded 50%, a second face-to-face round was scheduled for 29–30 May. This first success of Pisapia was one of a number of successes of the left wing in several other cities and provinces. With the campaign reaching ever harsher tones than before, Pisapia finally won on 30 May, with 55% of the votes.[6] Internet and social networks played a relevant role in the election of Pisapia.[7][8][9]

The candidate of Beppe Grillo's party Five Star Movement, Mattia Calise, who was only 20 years old, obtained nearly 3.5% of the votes.

Summary of the 2011 Milan City Council and Mayoral election results
Candidates 1st round 2nd round Leader's
seat
Parties Votes  % Seats
Votes  % Votes  %
Giuliano Pisapia 315,862 48.05 365,657 55.11 Democratic Party 170,551 28.64 20
Left Ecology Freedom 28,016 4.70 3
Pisapia List – Civic Milan 22,995 3.86 2
Federation of the Left 18,467 3.10 2
Italy of Values 15,145 2.54 1
Bonino-Pannella List 10,215 1.72 1
Ecologist Greens 8,165 1.37
Milly Moratti List for Pisapia 7,940 1.33
Total 281,494 47.26 29
Letizia Moratti 273,401 41.59 297,874 44.89 checkY The People of Freedom 171,222 28.75 11
Northern League 57,403 9.64 4
Milan in the Center 14,532 2.44 1
I Love Italy 3,050 0.51
Better Milan Project 3,022 0.51
Pensions and Work 1,840 0.31
The Right 1,721 0.29
Italian Union 1,632 0.27
Young People for the Expo 1,208 0.20
New Italian Socialist Party 1,029 0.17
The Populars of Italy Tomorrow 713 0.12
Alliance of the Centre 405 0.07
Total 257,777 43.28 16
Manfredi Palmeri 36,471 5.55 checkY New Pole for Milan 16,015 2.69
Union of the Centre 11,313 1.90
Total 27,328 4.59
Mattia Calise 21,228 3.23 checkY Five Star Movement 20,438 3.43
Giancarlo Pagliarini 4,229 0.64 Padanian League Lombardy 3,159 0.53
Marco Mantovani 2,366 0.36 New Force 2,088 0.35
Carla De Albertis 1,804 0.27 Your Milan 1,447 0.24
Elisabetta Fatuzzo 1,613 0.25 Pensioners' Party 1,461 0.25
Fabrizio Montuori 405 0.06 Workers' Communist Party 393 0.07
Total 657,379 100.00 663,531 100.00 3 595,585 100.00 45
Eligible voters 996,400 100.0 996,400 100.0
Did not vote 322,875 32.4 324,980 32.6
Voted 673,525 67.6 671,420 67.4
Blank or invalid ballots 15,838 2.4 7,889 1.2
Total valid votes 657,687 97.6 663,531 98.8
Source: Ministry of the Interior

According to each part's popular vote, the People of Freedom party (PdL) won a narrow victory over the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which however won the majority in the City Council.

Piazza del Duomo. Supporters of Pisapia celebrating his election on 30 May 2011.
Supporters of Pisapia celebrating his election in front of the Duomo.
Popular vote
PdL
28.75%
PD
28.64%
LN
9.64%
SEL
4.70%
M5S
3.43%
FDS
3.10%
Council Seats
PD
41.6%
PdL
22.9%
LN
8.3%
SEL
6.2%
FDS
4.2%
M5S
2.1%
Popular vote (coalition)
Centre-left
47.26%
Centre-right
43.28%
Centre
4.59%
M5S
3.43%
Council seats (coalition)
Centre-left
62.5%
Centre-right
33.3%
Centre
2.0%
M5S
2.0%

Results by zona

The 9 zones

After the 2006 election, 8 zone were governed by the centre-right and only one by the centre-left. Then all were gained by the centre-left coalition.[2]

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

Zona Centre-left Centre-right Centre Others Elected President Party
votes  % votes  % votes  % votes  %
1 23,596 47.3 22,377 44.9 3,597 7.2 323 0.6 Fabio Luigi Arrigoni PD
2 29,910 45.8 28,372 43.5 3,797 5.8 3,204 4.9 Mario Villa PD
3 36,423 49.5 29,002 39.4 4,283 5.8 3,875 5.3 Renato Sacristiani PRC
4 36,752 48.8 30,668 40.8 3,895 5.2 3,938 5.2 Loredana Bigatti PD
5 28,467 48.2 23,669 40.1 3,482 5.9 3,413 5.8 Aldo Ugliano PD
6 35,852 49.1 29,111 39.8 4,088 5.6 4,016 5.5 Gabriele Rabaiotti PD
7 38,140 45.6 35,392 42.4 5,652 6.8 4,383 5.2 Fabrizio Tellini IdV
8 42,359 48.1 36,012 40.9 5,117 5.8 4,600 5.2 Simone Zambelli SEL
9 40,064 49.3 32,786 40.3 3,978 4.9 4,450 5.5 Beatrice Uguccioni PD

Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service

Table below shows the seats for each coalition in every zona 's Council:

Zona Centre-left Centre-right Centre Others Total
1 19 10 2 31
2 25 13 2 1 41
3 25 13 2 1 41
4 25 13 2 1 41
5 25 12 2 2 41
6 25 13 2 1 41
7 25 12 2 2 41
8 25 13 2 1 41
9 25 13 1 2 41
Total 219 112 17 11 359

Source: Municipality of Milan - Electoral Service

Second round

Table below shows the results of the votes for mayoral candidates on the second round (29–30 May 2011) in each zona:

Zona Giuliano Pisapia Letizia Moratti Turnout
1 26,571
(51.2%)
25,323
(48.8%)
65.5%
2 35,462
(53.4%)
30,905
(46.6%)
67.7%
3 42,316
(56.3%)
32,783
(43.7%)
69.4%
4 42,685
(55.8%)
33,846
(44.2%)
67.3%
5 33,990
(56.6%)
26,023
(43.4%)
66.6%
6 42,608
(56.4%)
32,896
(43.6%)
66.7%
7 46,329
(54.1%)
39,228
(45.9%)
67.8%
8 48,989
(54.7%)
40,603
(45.3%)
67.0%
9 46,767
(56.4%)
36,207
(43.6%)
67.8%

Notes

  1. Ministry of the Interior
  2. "COMUNE DI MILANO - Banche dati elettorale". www.comune.milano.it. Archived from the original on 2009-01-03.
  3. Teresa Montestiroli (November 14, 2010). "Primarie a Milano, Pisapia batte Boeri". La Repubblica. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  4. Elisabetta Polovedo (May 11, 2011). "Berlusconi makes election in Milan all about him". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  5. "Silvio Berlusconi warns Milan could become 'Gypsytown'". BBC News. 2011-05-03.
  6. Jeffrey Donovan (May 30, 2011). "Berlusconi Coalition Defeated in Mayoral Races". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  7. Lorenzo Pregliasco (June 1, 2011). "Lo spartiacque di Milano". Termometro politico. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
  8. Massimo Pisa (May 31, 2011). "Pisapia, una battaglia vinta sul web prima ancora che nei seggi elettorali". La Repubblica. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
  9. Davide Casati (May 31, 2011). "Ecco perché Pisapia ha vinto le elezioni". GQ.com. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
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