Roundup: "We would have wanted to do better" in local elections: Italian PM

Italian anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) secured a big score in the first round of mayoral elections in Rome, and emerged as largest opposition force at local level in the country, according to definitive results came out on Monday.

The local ballots to elect mayors and municipal councils were held in 1,342 cities and towns across Italy on Sunday. M5S candidate Virginia Raggi took the lead in the Italian capital with 35.25 percent of the vote, largely ahead of the contender from center-left Democratic Party (PD), Roberto Giachetti, with 24.87 percent, according to interior ministry data.

Since none of the candidates won more than 50 percent of the vote, the mayoral race in Rome will be decided by a run-off on June 19. The same will happen in Italy's other four largest cities, namely Milan, Turin, Naples and Bologna.

Yet, the positive result of populist, anti-establishment M5S in the capital sent a significant blow to the ruling Democratic Party, to which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also belongs.

"This is not a debacle, but we would have wanted to do better," Renzi told a press conference on Monday, commenting the final results. "I am not satisfied. This (first round of voting) will bring us to face a hard run-off turn."

On her part, 37-year-old lawyer Virginia Raggi said she was looking forward to securing a victory in the run-off, and felt ready to take charge as mayor.

"The citizens of Rome have sent a message, and this is a historic result for the M5S," she said on Monday. "On June 19, we will have to complete what we have begun. It will be the opportunity to rewrite the future of our city, definitively and all together," Raggi also told Ansa news agency.

People in Rome showed a mixed reaction to this perspective. "I did not vote at all," 28-year-old student Marta Giuliano told Xinhua.

"None of the candidates submitted programs really worthy, and none were up to solve the serious problems of this city, in my view."

However, she added the M5S good result came as no surprise for her. "Roman citizens are long fed up with the inefficiency showed by several past administrations, and M5S offered them the chance to cast a vote of protest," Giuliano explained.

Nonetheless, in case of final victory, she hoped the M5S candidate would prove ability to solve Rome's lasting problems of mismanagement in the public services and overall decline.

An older fellow Roman appeared less disenchanted, and much more satisfied with the results. "I used to be a PD voter, but I did not like the way they managed the city as a majority party in the last municipal council," 48-year-old electrician Salvatore Bruno told Xinhua. "This is mainly why I voted for Virginia Raggi."

The man said he would not trust the M5S at national level, and keep voting center-left PD in the government.

"Yet, mayoral and local polls concern the city administration, not big political issues. I hope all other parties will hear the message and clean up ranks: Rome is decay, and needs a revamp."

Still the largest political force at national level, Renzi's PD yet harbored hopes to win the mayoral race in Milan and Turin.

Candidate Giuseppe Sala scored 41.69 percent of the vote in Milan on Sunday, only slightly ahead of center-right rival Stefano Parisi with 40.77 percent.

Incumbent PD mayor Piero Fassino in Turin took a larger lead with 41.83 percent against M5S contender Chiara Appendino with 30.92 percent.

In Naples, however, the PD failed even to make a run off ballot, and incumbent leftist mayor Luigi De Magistris, with 42.86 percent of the vote, would face a center-left rival. Endit