The center-left Democratic
Party (PD) will launch its Rome mayoral campaign come January,
party chairman and Rome PD commissioner Matteo Orfini told ANSA
on Monday.
The party led by Premier Matteo Renzi is busy conferring
with its local Rome chapters in the run-up to the elections for
a new mayor after the PD pressured ex-mayor Ignazio Marino - who
ran on a joint PD-Left Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party ticket
and was elected in 2013 with 63.9% of the vote - to step down
earlier this year.
The party will hold coalition primaries for a new mayoral
candidate in March, Orfini said.
"We still need to figure out what that coalition will be,"
Orfini said. "If we do a good job, we won't need to fear
anyone".
Marino resigned in October under pressure from his own PD
party in what supporters say was an orchestrated attack because
the mayor prosecuted corrupt officials and angered the Vatican
with his stance in favor of gay marriage.
Among other things, Marino tackled corruption and nepotism
in the city's transport and refugee agencies, incensed many by
extending pedestrian zones in Rome's historic center and also
incurred the wrath of the right by taking strong stands in favor
of same-sex marriage and the integration of immigrants.
The ex-mayor was placed under investigation following a
formal report from two opposition parties - the small rightwing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) and the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S), currently the second-largest party in Italy
after Marino's PD.
Marino could face embezzlement charges if evidence is
found to support opposition allegations he spent some 20,000
euros of taxpayers' money on private dinners, a charge he
denies.
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