Virginia Raggi becomes Rome’s first female mayor

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) – Virginia Raggi of the opposition Five Star Movement (M5S) has become the first female mayor of the Italian capital Rome.

The Italian Interior Ministry announced on Monday that the 37-year-old lawyer Virginia Raggi of the anti-globalization movement had won 67.2 percent of the vote in the election that took place on Sunday.

Raggi defeated Roberto Giachetti from center-left Democratic Party (PD).

“With us, a new era begins,” said Raggi who vowed to be the mayor of all in the capital.

Some 8.6 million people were eligible to vote ın run-offs in 126 towns and cities Sunday.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) won elections in Italy’s economic capital Milan and Bologna but received severe warnings for the upcoming general election as the anti-establishment Five Star Movement won 19 out 20 towns and cities in which it had candidates, including Rome and Turin.

In fact, another Five Star Movement female candidate Chiara Appendino won in the center-left stronghold Torino with 54 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent mayor Piero Fassino.

The local elections were seen in Italy as tests for Renzi and for the opposition Five Star Movement, founded by comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo, ahead of an October referendum on Constitutional reforms and a 2018 general election.