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Walter Veltroni
Democrats of the Left
Walter Veltroni
Democrats of the Left
Municipal elections were held in Rome on 28–29 May 2006, at the same time as other Italian municipal elections. The outgoing Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni (DS) faced center-right candidate Gianni Alemanno who was chosen to head his coalition.
Control of the 19 municipi of the Italian capital was also to be decided in the elections. Of these, the center-left controlled 18 and the center-right one. 59 councillors were due to be elected in the City Council.
As a result of the election, Veltroni was elected. The center-left controls 38 seats against for the center-right. The percentage of votes that supported Veltroni's second term in office was a record in local elections in Rome.
The center-left coalition was led by the former Deputy Prime Minister and outgoing mayor Walter Veltroni.
The center-right coalition was led by the Minister of Agriculture Gianni Alemanno, from National Alliance, a party historically born from the Italian Social Movement and very strong in the Italian capital.
All the two coalitions were similar to the coalitions which supported Romano Prodi (The Union) and Silvio Berlusconi (House of Freedoms) in the April general elections.
The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city with a population higher than 15,000 inhabintants. 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 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, although it is not guaranteed.