2021 Turin municipal election
Municipal elections were held in Turin, Piedmont, on 3 and 4 October 2021 to elect the mayor of Turin and the 38 members of the City Council of Turin. Originally scheduled for June 2021, the election was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Since no mayoral candidate won a majority of votes on the first round, where the centre-left coalition candidate Stefano Lo Russo narrowly finished first against most opinion polling, a runoff election was held on 17 and 18 October 2021. The second round was won in a landslide by Lo Russo, who outperformed the polls and was officially inaugurated as the new mayor of Turin on 27 October 2021. Chiara Appendino of the Five Star Movement, who was the incumbent mayor of Turin, did not run for re-election.
Background
Electoral system
The voting system for the office of mayor of Turin is used for all mayoral elections in Italy in the cities 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. The winning candidate obtains a majority bonus equal to 60% of seats. During the first round, if no candidate gets more than 50% of votes but a coalition of lists gets the majority of 50% of votes, or if the mayor is elected in the first round but its coalition gets less than 40% of the valid votes, the majority bonus cannot be assigned to the coalition of the winning mayor candidate. The election of the City Council of Turin is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a maximum of two preferential votes, each for a different gender, belonging to the same party list; the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally, using the D'Hondt method for seat allocation. Only coalitions with more than 3% of votes are eligible to get any seats.
Declined candidates
Withdrew
Centre-left coalition
- Mauro Salizzoni, medic and regional councilor of Piedmont.
Declined
Centre-left coalition
Opinion polls
First round
| Date | Polling firm | Sample size | Sganga | Lo Russo | Damilano | Others | Undecided | Lead |
| Date | Polling firm | Sample size | | | | Others | Undecided | Lead |
| | — | 9.0 | 43.9 | 38.9 | 8.2 | — | 5.0 |
| 12–15 Sep 2021 | | 1,000 | 9.0 | 40.0 | 42.0 | 9.0 | 29.0 | 2.0 |
| 9–15 Sep 2021 | | 1,000 | 9.0 | 42.0 | 42.0 | 7.0 | 21.0 | Tie |
| 6–11 Sep 2021 | | 1,000 | 9.5 | 39.0 | 42.0 | 9.5 | 27.0 | 3.0 |
| 7–10 Sep 2021 | | 805 | 8.6 | 42.8 | 43.7 | 4.9 | 43.2 | 0.9 |
| 3–8 Sep 2021 | | 808 | 8.3 | 41.4 | 44.2 | 6.1 | 39.6 | 2.8 |
| 27–29 Aug 2021 | | 809 | 11.1 | 38.9 | 41.6 | 8.4 | 23.0 | 2.7 |
| 3–5 Aug 2021 | | 1,804 | 13.0 | 34.0 | 41.0 | 12.0 | 37.0 | 7.0 |
| 29 Jun–12 Jul 2021 | | 1,600 | 8.0 | 43.0 | 44.0 | 5.0 | 22.0 | 1.0 |
| 25 Jun 2021 | | 1,000 | 11.9 | 39.6 | 43.7 | 4.8 | | 4.1 |
| 10–15 May 2021 | | 1,337 | 12.6 | 38.2 | 40.1 | 9.1 | 30.0 | 1.9 |
Second round
; Damilano vs. Lo Russo
| Date | Polling firm | Sample size | Damilano | Lo Russo | Abstain | Lead |
| Date | Polling firm | Sample size | | | Abstain | Lead |
| | — | 40.7 | 59.2 | — | 18.5 |
| 9–15 Sep 2021 | | 1,000 | 48.0 | 52.0 | | 4.0 |
| 6–11 Sep 2021 | | 1,000 | 48.0 | 52.0 | | 4.0 |
| 7–10 Sep 2021 | | 805 | 47.4 | 52.6 | 44.9 | 5.2 |
| 3–8 Sep 2021 | | 808 | 46.9 | 53.1 | 47.8 | 6.2 |
| 27–29 Aug 2021 | | 809 | 48.0 | 52.0 | | 4.0 |
| 16 Jul 2021 | | 1,600 | 48.0 | 52.0 | | 4.0 |
| 25 Jun 2021 | | 1,000 | 50.2 | 49.8 | 37.3 | 0.4 |
| 10–15 May 2021 | | 1,337 | 47.0 | 53.0 | | 6.0 |
Results
; Notes