2021 Bologna municipal election

The municipal elections in Bologna took place on 3 and 4 October 2021. The incumbent Mayor of Bologna was Virginio Merola of Democratic Party, who won the 2016 Bologna municipal election. The centre-left candidate Matteo Lepore won in a landslide with 62% of votes, becoming the most voted mayor since the introduction of direct elections in 1995.

Electoral system
The voting system 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 during the first round, 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 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 D'Hondt seat allocation. Only coalitions with more than 3% of votes are eligible to get any seats.

Matteo Lepore

 * Anna Ascani (PD), current Vicepresident of the Democratic Party (2019–today) and Undersecretary for Economic Development (2021–today)
 * Stefano Bonaccini (PD), current President of Emilia-Romagna (2014–today)
 * Emily Marion Clancy (SI), municipal councillor for Bologna (2016–today)
 * Giuseppe Conte (M5S), former Prime Minister (2018–2021)
 * Valentina Cuppi (PD), current President of the Democratic Party (2020–today), mayor of Marzabotto (2019–today)
 * Andrea De Maria (PD), Member of the Chamber of Deputies (2013–today), mayor of Marzabotto (1995–2004)
 * Vasco Errani (Art.1), former President of Emilia-Romagna (1999–2014)
 * Cathy La Torre (Independent), lawyer and LGBT activist, municipal councillor for Bologna (2011–2016)
 * Nicola Fratoianni (SI), current Secretary of Italian Left (2017–2019; 2021–today)
 * Enrico Letta (PD), current Secretary of the Democratic Party (2021–today) and former Prime Minister (2013–2014)
 * Virginio Merola (PD), current Mayor of Bologna (2011–today)
 * Dario Nardella (PD), current Mayor of Florence (2014–today)
 * Romano Prodi (Independent), former Prime Minister (1996–1998; 2006–2008)
 * Peppe Provenzano (PD), current Deputy secretary of the Democratic Party (2021–today) and former Minister for Territorial Cohesion (2019–2021)
 * Mattia Santori (Independent), leader of the Sardines movement
 * Elly Schlein (GI), current Vicepresident of Emilia-Romagna (2020–today)
 * Nicola Zingaretti (PD), President of Lazio (2013–today) and former Secretary of the Democratic Party (2019–2021)

Isabella Conti

 * Alberto Aitini (PD), municipal assessor for Bologna (2016–today)
 * Mauro Felicori (Independent), regional assessor of Culture (2020–today)
 * Gian Luca Galletti (CpE), Minister of Environment (2014–2018), member of the Chamber of Deputies (2006–2013)
 * Elisabetta Gualmini (PD), Member of the European Parliament (2019–today)
 * Marco Lombardo (PD), municipal assessor for Bologna (2016–today)
 * Matteo Renzi (IV), member of the Senate of the Republic (2018–today), former Prime Minister (2014–2016)
 * Giampiero Veronesi (PD), Mayor of Anzola dell'Emilia (2014–today)

Parties and candidates
This is a list of the parties (and their respective leaders) which will participate in the election.

Results
Notes: if a defeated candidate for Mayor obtained over 3% of votes, he/she is automatically elected communal councilor (Battistini); see Italian electoral law of 1993 for Comuni. The candidate elected Mayor is not a member of communal council, but Merola votes in the communal council (see Italian electoral law 1993).