1st projections: Rome mayor may fall short of making runoff

Ballot counting has begin in Italy after two days of voting for mayors in many cities

ROME -- Ballot counting began Monday in Italy after two days of voting for mayors in many cities, and exit polls on Italian state TV indicated that populist Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi failed to automatically win a second term and might not have won enough to even clinch a runoff spot.

First projections on a small percentage of votes counted in other cities indicated other key races also appeared headed for runoffs on Oct. 17-18, in line with opinion polls in recent weeks.

One important exception seemed to be Milan's center-left Mayor Giuseppe Sala, who, if state TV's early projections hold, appeared to be headed to victory Monday by clinching 56% of the vote, or 6% more than what's required to avoid a runoff with the second-place candidate.

First projections for Rome indicated that Raggi was trailing the top two vote-getters by some 10% points, RAI state TV said, but other media's projections indicated she might have clinched a runoff berth.