Virginia Raggi

Virginia Raggi

Raggi in 2016
65th Mayor of Rome
Assumed office
22 June 2016
Preceded by Francesco Paolo Tronca
as Special Commissioner
Personal details
Born Virginia Elena Raggi
(1978-07-18) 18 July 1978
Rome, Italy
Political party Five Star Movement
Spouse(s) Andrea Severini
Children 1
Alma mater Roma Tre University
Occupation Lawyer
Religion Roman Catholicism[1]

Virginia Elena Raggi (Italian pronunciation: [virˈdʒiːnja ˈraddʒi]; born 18 July 1978) is an Italian lawyer and current Mayor of Rome, elected in 2016. Raggi represents the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), and is both the first candidate from that party and the first woman to be elected to Rome's mayoralty.[2]

Biography

Raggi was born and raised in the Appio Latino district of Rome, and studied law at the Roma Tre University, specialising in judicial and extrajudicial civil law.[3] Raggi was previously a member of local neighborhood boards before joining the Five Star Movement for Rome district XIV in 2011.[4]

In the 2013 municipal election, Raggi was one of four members of the Five Star Movement elected to Rome city council.[5] The maximum term of office lasts five years, but the resignation of mayor Ignazio Marino (a member of the Democratic Party) triggered early elections; Marino was ousted from office after more than half the city's councillors stepped down. Raggi won the closed primary (against Marcello De Vito — the party's 2013 nominee to the office of Mayor — and other minor candidates) in preparation for the upcoming June 2016 Rome municipal early election.[5] Defined by The Economist as "a talented debater",[6] Raggi is the first female Mayor of the city. She "promised to fight corruption and bring back Rome’s splendor a year after a wide-reaching scandal exposed criminal infiltration in city bidding contracts".[7] Raggi also opposes Rome’s bid to host the Olympic 2024 Olympic Games arguing that the city is in a “delicate moment”[8] pointing out the spiralling deficits in Olympic cities. In June 2016 Raggi said “with 13 billion euros in debt, Rome can’t afford taking on more debt to make cathedrals in the desert […] my no is very clear”.[9]

Raggi and her party (Five Star Movement, M5S) came in first place in the first round of voting (5 June 2016) in the Rome mayoral election, garnering over 35 percent of the vote.[10] In the second round of voting (19 June 2016), Raggi opposed Roberto Giachetti, a member of the Democratic Party (PD) and Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies in the XVII Legislature, who obtained over 24 percent of the vote in first round. Raggi won the second round with the 67.2 percent of or slightly over 770,000 votes; she is the first woman and the first member of M5S to hold the office of Campidoglio (Mayor of Rome).[2]

Personal life

Raggi lives with her family in the Ottavia zone of Rome.[3] She is married to fellow M5S member Andrea Severini with whom she has one child, born in 2009.[3][10]

She is a Catholic and married in the church.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "ITALIE. Les cinq défis de Virginia Raggi, nouvelle maire de Rome" [ITALY. The five challenges for Virginia Raggi, new Mayor of Rome]. L'Obs (in French). 20 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 Rosie Scamell (20 June 2016). "Anti-establishment candidates elected to lead Rome and Turin". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Marco Damilano (16 March 2016). "Virginia Raggi, chi è la donna che spaventa Renzi e Berlusconi" [Virginia Raggi, the woman who scares Renzi and Berlusconi]. L'Espresso (in Italian). Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  4. ↑ Raggi, Virginia. "Chi Sono - Virginia Raggi" [Who I Am – Virginia Raggi] (in Italian). Five Star Movement. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 Rosie Scammell, "Rubbish on the streets, corruption in the air: Rome looks for a clean-up candidate", The Guardian, 12 June 2016
  6. ↑ "Smartening up. An anti-establishment political group becomes slightly more conventional", The Economist, 12 March 2016
  7. ↑ Gaia Pianigiani, "Italy’s Five Star Movement Leads in Rome’s Mayoral Election", The New York Times, 6 June 2016]
  8. ↑ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (19 June 2016). "Virginia Raggi faces five key tests if she becomes Rome mayor". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  9. ↑ Dampf, Andrew (22 June 2016). "New Rome mayor maintains opposition to 2024 Olympic bid". Associated Press. Associated Press. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Five Star Movement candidate Virginia Raggi could become Rome's mayor". The Age. 5 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virginia Raggi.
Political offices
Preceded by
Ignazio Marino		 Mayor of Rome
2016–today 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Marcello De Vito (2013)		 Five Star Movement nominee for Mayor of Rome
2016 		Succeeded by
Most recent
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