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Municipal elections were held in Bologna on 5 and 19 June 2016. The centre-left candidate Virginio Merola was elected mayor at the second round with 54.64% of votes.
Voting system
The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city with a population higher than 15,000 inhabitants. 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.
The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally.
Parties and candidates
This is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which will participate in the election.
Notes: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, the mayoral candidate is automatically elected communal councilor (Borgonzoni, Bugani, Bernardini and Martelloni); see Italian electoral law of 1993 for Comuni. The candidate elected Mayor is not a member of communal council, but Merola votes in the communal council (see Italian electoral law 1993).
