ROME, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) boosted its power after winning a run-off vote to govern Ostia, a populous, sensitive district of Rome on Sunday.
The local ballot was seen on Monday as relevant nationwide, as the country is expected to go to general elections in spring of 2018.
The results on Monday showed M5S candidate Giuliana Di Pillo won 59.6 percent of the votes against 40.4 percent of center-right rival Monica Picca. However, the turnout was 33.6 percent, which was particularly low for Italy's average.
The M5S was ruling over Rome since lawyer Virginia Raggi was elected as mayor in June 2016. Despite her administration being tarnished by legal scandals and complaints of mismanagement, the results in Ostia would suggest the populist movement's image and political strength has not suffered so far.
Latest opinion polls also showed the Five Star Movement was the most popular party, and at an increasing distance from cabinet ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD).
Ostia is one of the largest municipalities of the capital, with more than 231,000 residents overall. The national relevance of its local vote was also due to the ascertained presence of criminal groups and mafia organizations in the area.
Between April and June 2015, in fact, the then center-left president of Ostia's local council resigned. He faces charges over criminal association, and the administration dissolved for mafia infiltrations.
After more than two years under a special commissioner, however, Ostia's new political campaign was marred by allegations of criminal interference and growing presence of extremist groups.
In the first round of vote held on Nov. 5, neo-fascist Casapound movement won more than 9 percent of the ballot, and succeeded in electing its own representative in the local council.
The week before the runoff, a journalist from Italy's state broadcaster RAI was attacked by Roberto Spada, the brother of a jailed local mafia boss, during a TV interview.
Fully broadcast, the attack went viral and shocked the country, and Roberto Spada was arrested for assault.
Seven members of the clan, including its alleged boss Carmine Spada, were serving jail terms for extortion aggravated by mafia methods. Nonetheless, the Spadas were still believed to rule over many illegal businesses in Ostia.
After the latest attack to the reporter, the Interior Ministry deployed some 400 plain-clothes police officers across polling stations on Sunday.
