Rome Elects Virginia Raggi as City's First Female Mayor

Virginia Raggi is a 37-year-old lawyer

Rome elected its first female mayor Sunday, NBC News reported. 

Rome city council member Virginia Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer from the opposition Movimento 5 Stelle, or Five Star Movement, had 67 percent of the vote with almost 80 percent of the vote counted early Monday, the Interior Ministry said. 

She beat Roberto Giachetti, who was backed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Her defeat ousted Renzi's Democratic Party from power in the capital city. 

Raggi's party, known as M5S, was founded on the Internet about 6½ years ago as a "clean" alternative to business as usual by TV comic Giuseppe "Beppe" Grillo, M5S is already the largest single party in Italy's lower Chamber of Deputies.

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