Voters in the Italian capital went to the polls Sunday with all signs indicating that they will elect Virginia Raggi as the first female mayor of the Eternal City.
Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer and local councillor, has leapt from anonymity to become one of the best-known faces in Italian politics in the space of only a few months on the campaign trail.
The telegenic brunette, whose victory would be a blow for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, is the rising star of the populist Five Star movement (M5S), the anti-establishment party founded by comedian Beppe Grillo.
Polling stations opened at 7:00am (0500 GMT) and were set to close at 2100 GMT.
More than nine million voters are eligible to take part in Sunday’s second round election in 126 communes, including Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin and Bologna.
“It’s a very special day for us, we finally have the chance to have somebody new who can change things,” Aldo, a 72-year-old pensioner, told AFP shortly after casting his ballot for the Five Star movement at a primary school in the Trastevere district of Rome.
“All the others have failed, we hope that they will succeed,” he added.
All eyes are on Five Star, which has emerged as the best-supported opposition to the center left, Democratic Party (PD)-led coalition of Renzi, and the stakes are extremely high for a movement that was only founded in 2009.

Source: Arab News