Rome set to elect Virginia Raggi as first female mayor
Online Desk
19 Jun 2016 05:57 AM
Virginia Raggi, Five Star Movement (M5S) candidate for the mayoral elections in Rome, looks on during her last campaign meeting on June 17, 2016 at Ostia Lido, Rome's seashore, before the second round of the election. Voters in the Italian capital return
Rome is set to elect its first female mayor in a run-off vote in municipal elections, reports the BBC.
Virginia Raggi, from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, is seen as the favourite against Roberto Giachetti of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
Her victory would be a blow to Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
His PD party may also lose in Italy's financial capital, Milan, and faces tough battles in Turin and Bologna.
Ms Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer, won 35% of the vote in the first round two weeks ago, against 24% for Mr Giachetti.
Correspondents say a victory in Rome would give anti-globalist Five Star a platform for parliamentary elections due in 2018.
The next mayor of Rome will find a city mired in debts of more than €13bn (£10bn; $15bn)-- twice its annual budget.
Romans are frustrated by potholes, piles of rubbish and serious deficiencies in public transport and housing, the BBC's James Reynolds in reports from the Italian capital.
