Italian municipal elections: the very uncertain battle for the Capitol – archyde

A municipal election in Rome is not completely successful without its share of surprises, absurd situations and surreal controversies. Thus the campaign for the October 3 and 4 ballot purred a little until the appearance, at the beginning of September, of an unexpected theme: the proliferation of wild boars, which have been multiplying in the outskirts for years and are also venturing out. more often in residential areas, invading golf courses and supermarket car parks, sometimes causing memorable traffic jams.

Questioned on social networks by exasperated residents, the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, sought to put her responsibility in the case into perspective: “The control of wild boars is a regional competence”, she declared during a televised interview in front of the cameras of Mediaset, incriminating the governor Nicola Zingaretti (Democratic Party), while all of her competitors for the election mocked her answer and questioned the inaction of the town hall, promising to solve in the blink of an eye a problem which nevertheless plagues the lives of many city councilors throughout Europe.

Who can wish to exercise the impossible profession of mayor of Rome? Of course, there is the international prestige of the function and the fact of sitting on Capitol Hill, with stunning views from the offices on the forum. But, for the rest, the function has all the poisoned gift. The sulphurous Gianni Alemanno, mayor from 2008 to 2013, former minister of Silvio Berlusconi, saw his national career shattered by scandals and is still grappling with justice for his role in the “Mafia capital” affair. As for his successor Ignazio Marino, mayor from 2013 to 2015, he was ousted by members of his party, after a series of court cases that collapsed after his departure from the Capitol.

Over-indebted city

Elected in June 2016 against a backdrop of general discrediting of local elites, Virginia Raggi was the embodiment of the new momentum that the 5-Star Movement (anti-system) wanted to boost in Italian politics. Alas, as soon as she took office, she found herself grappling with the harsh realities of an over-indebted city and was confronted with the consequences of catastrophic management of waste and the transport network. After a disastrous start, Virginia Raggi has managed to raise the bar, so that she represents herself in front of the voters, despite the weakness of her record, hoping to reach the second round by focusing on the peripheries neglected by the elites of the downtown.

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