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The first female mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi

Wednesday 22nd of June 2016

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Virginia Raggi has been elected as Rome's first female mayor in a triumph for the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), representing a blow to Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister.
Raggi swept into City Hall on Sunday with two-thirds of the votes cast in a runoff contest with Roberto Giachetti of Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (DP).
Raggi said  after declaring victory "A new era is beginning with us, We'll work to bring back legality and transparency to the city's institutions."
A lawyer and local councillor, Raggi has leapt from anonymity to become one of the best-known faces in Italian politics in the space of only a few months on the campaign trail.
M5S has emerged as the main opposition to Renzi's coalition and success in Rome could provide a platform for a tilt at national power in general elections due in 2018.
More than nine million voters were eligible to take part in the second-round election in 126 communes, including Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin and Bologna.
The result is a blow for Renzi's bloc and makes her the rising star of the M5S, the anti-establishment party founded by comedian-turned politician Beppe Grillo.

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