Rome elects its first female mayor

The first female mayor of Rome was elected Sunday, with 67 percent of the vote.

Virginia Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer and city council member, won almost every part of the city in the run-off election, the Italian national newspaper Corriere della Sera reports. During the June 5 primary, she led Roberto Giachetti, backed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, by 11 percentage points. Giachetti conceded defeat a few hours after polls closed.

Raggi is a member of the opposition Movimento 5 Stelle (Five Star Movement), founded on the internet nearly seven years ago by television comic Giuseppe "Beppe" Grillo as an anti-establishment party, NBC News reports. Raggi focused her campaign on the poor condition of city streets and parking as well as a yearlong corruption investigation into politicians and their alleged links to organized crime.

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