Virginia Raggi of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement captured 67.2 per cent of the vote to become the first female mayor of Rome.
The win on Sunday comes after she capitalized on residents’ anger over political corruption and deteriorating city services.
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The previous mayor resigned last October over an expense scandal and the city has been without a mayor since then. City residents have complained about transit strikes, potholes and trash collection.
“A new era is beginning with us. We’ll work to bring back legality and transparency to the city’s institutions,” she declared after the victory.
On top of being the first female mayor of Rome, 37-year-old Raggi is also the youngest. She’s worked as a lawyer and had a three-year stint as a local councillor.
The Five Star Movement is aiming to establish itself as the main opposition party against the current centre-left Democratic Party ahead of the country’s general elections in 2018. The Democratic Party is led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Renzi insisted that local voting would not reflect on his two-year-old national government.
Raggi, who is married with one kid, beat the Democratic Party’s candidate, Roberto Giachetti.
In Turin, another female Five Star candidate, Chiara Appendino, also won the race for mayor.
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The Democratic Party has been weakened by defections and the Rome scandals, which tainted local Democrats as well as conservative politicians.
The Five Star Movement was founded in 2009 by comic Beppe Grillo, who used his widely popular sarcastic blog chastising traditional politicians as a springboard to politics. The first significant mayoral victory came in 2012, in the affluent northern town of Parma.
— With files from the Associated Press.
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