A number of elections for the renewal of both municipal councils and mayors were held in Italy on 28 and 29 May 2006. Notably, these election regarded the four biggest cities in the country, Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin. Other relevant cities where municipal elections were held included Cagliari, Varese, Novara, Ravenna, Rimini, Ancona, Siena, Salerno and Catanzaro.
. . . 2006 Italian local elections . . .
Incumbent mayor Walter Veltroni, of The Union ran for a second mandate.
The House of Freedoms, which initially considered not to present a unique candidate, in fact proposed the unitary candidacy of Gianni Alemanno, prominent member of the National Alliance and Minister for Agriculture in the second Berlusconi cabinet; before that, both Mario Baccini of the UDC, Minister for Public Function in the Berlusconi cabinet, and Member of the European ParliamentAlfredo Antoniozzi of Forza Italia considered the candidacy. There are also twelve other minor candidates.
Veltroni, member and former secretary of the Democrats of the Left, as well as former editor-in-chief of newspaper L’Unità, won the Mayor office in 2001, after having defeated Antonio Tajani of Forza Italia in the ballot round.
A majority of pollsters predicted an easy victory for Veltroni in the first electoral round.
Source: City of Rome
. . . 2006 Italian local elections . . .