Italian Man Becomes Mayor By Accident

Sometimes, you’re just trying to help out a friend, and you end up becoming Mayor:

The new mayor of a mountain town in northern Italy has been voted in almost completely by accident.

Fabio Borsatti, 50, stood in Cimolais as a last-minute favour to the only candidate, worried not enough people would vote if he stood unopposed.

But, despite even Mr Borsatti’s own family voting for his rival, the unlikely candidate won the poll.

He only realised he had become mayor when people telephoned him, as he was watching football, to congratulate him.

“I find myself a mayor who didn’t want to be a mayor,” Mr Borsatti said.

“I wanted Gino [Bertolo] to win. Even my relatives voted for him.

“My daughter, my sister, my father and my mother – they all voted for him.”

But in the poll, Mr Borsatti obtained 160 votes – securing almost 58% of the vote – compared with just 117 votes for his good friend, Mr Bertolo.

(…)

His friend, a former mayor of Cimolais, has said it was an honour to take part in the vote.

“I wasn’t upset… Something apparently unusual happened but it is nothing to joke about,” Mr Bertolo said.

Bet you wish you’d run unopposed now, eh Bertolo?

H/T Taegan Goddard

FILED UNDER: Open Forum, ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Bertolo is Italian for Romney?

  2. Franklin says:

    Geez, I hate it when that happens!