Voters in the Italian capital headed to the polls today with all signs indicating that they will elect populist candidate 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 Five Star movement (M5S), the anti-establishment party founded by comedian Beppe Grillo.
More than nine million voters are eligible to take part in today'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 a district of Rome.
"All the others have failed, we hope that they will succeed," he added.
Turnout at 1700 GMT stood at around 36.5 percent, down from the first-round figure of just under 44 percent, according to the interior ministry.
Polls close at 2100 GMT.
All eyes are on Five Star which has emerged as the best-supported opposition to the centre-left Democratic Party (PD)-led coalition of Renzi, and the stakes are extremely high for a movement that was only founded in 2009.
With the ebullient Renzi's star waning slightly, success in Rome could provide a platform for a tilt at national power in general elections due in 2018.
