2/3rds of Italian villagers run for office

2/3rds of Italian villagers run for office

ROME:- An election landslide is unlikely in local voting in a medieval Italian village after 40 of the 63 registered voters signed up as candidates, a report said.

The hamlet of Bergolo is in Italy's Piedmont region, and it's not entirely clear why there is such interest in the mayor's job and nine seats on the village council, a correspondent for London's Telegraph reported from Rome.

Former mayor of 30 years, Romano Vola, 64, said changes in Italy's electoral laws in the 1990s could be behind the rush to run. Candidates used to need 20 signatures to declare their candidacy. Now, candidates only have to declare themselves at the town hall, the report said.

Voters in Sunday's local elections also will decide the mayors of Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin as well as the regional president of Sicily, the Telegraph said.