Some 103,000 people took part
in the 2006 World Mayor Project
By Tann vom Hove, Editor

The aim of the internet-based World Mayor project, which was launched by City Mayors in January 2004, is to raise the profile of mayors worldwide by honouring those who have served their communities well and have made significant contributions to cities nationally and internationally. Each year, the most outstanding mayor is presented with the World Mayor Award. The 2006 winner is John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Previous winners were Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana (2004) and Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens and now Greek Foreign Minister (2005).

| First round | Second round | Votes | Methodology | Essays |

The World Mayor project has no connection with any city or organisation and is run on strictly non-commercial lines. Sponsorships, advertising, subscriptions, donations or any other kind of revenues are not sought and are rejected, if offered.

The first round
Between January and May each year, citizens from across the world are invited to nominate mayors for the World Mayor Award via the City Mayors and World Mayor websites. Proposers are asked to provide statements explaining the reasons for their choice. After the close of the nomination stage, the editors of City Mayors prepare a short list of mayors who go forward to the second round of the World Mayor contest. In 2006, the list of finalists included 50 mayors from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.

The second round
In the second round, which runs from June to the middle of October, citizens are asked to choose - from the short list of finalists - mayors who, in their opinion, deserve to win the World Mayor Award. Each voter has nominally six votes. However, voters can only vote for one mayor from each of six world regions: Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia and Africa.

The list of finalists for the 2006 World Mayor Award included 50 mayors from six world regions. Europe contributed 16 mayors, 10 mayors came from North America, 6 mayors were leaders of South American cities, 12 mayors were from Asia, 4 mayors headed African cities, while 2 mayors were from Australia and New Zealand. Mayors, who were among the finalists in both 2004 and 2005, were not eligible for the 2006 finals.

Origin of votes
In 2006, some 103,500 people voted in the second round of the contest. With a share of 26 per cent of the total, Europe contributed the largest number of votes. The share of votes from North America amounted to 24 per cent, with 12 per cent of the votes coming from Central and South American cities. The share of the vote from Africa increased from two per cent in 2005 to five per cent in 2006. Voters from Asian countries accounted for 18 per cent, while, largely due to the popularity of Melbourne Mayor John So, votes from Australasia made up 15 per cent of the total count. In 2005, only five per cent of the total vote came from that region.

Voting methodology
In addition to click voting on the World Mayor website, voters were asked to provide supporting statements outlining why they felt their choice of mayor deserved to win the World Mayor title. When setting up the rules for the project, City Mayors, the organisers, emphasised that the strength of argument expressed in the supporting statements was as important as the number of votes. By stressing the importance of well-argued comments, the organisers aimed to ensure that the contest participants thought about the merits of their chosen mayors. Publication of some of the comments on the World Mayor website also enabled comparison. The rules also enabled mayors from smaller cities to compete on equal terms with mayors from large metropolises. By publishing a selection of comments received from voters across the world on the World Mayor website, the organisers provide a fascinating insight into the achievements of mayors from cities with very different problems.

The editors of City Mayors, the organisers of the annual World Mayor project, are very much aware that an outstanding mayor from a city in the developing world requires different qualities from a mayor in Western Europe or North America. The winner of the annual World Mayor Award will therefore never be described as the ‘best mayor’.

Essays
The 2006 finalists were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and their cities by writing short essays for the World Mayor website. The essay could discuss political, environmental, financial, social, transport or indeed commercial developments, which were of benefit to the city as a whole and could be shown as examples for other cities to emulate.

Melbourne Lord Mayor John So, the winner of the 2006 World Mayor Award, described Melbourne in his essay as a cosmopolitan city, a thriving business hub, a focal point for arts and culture and a welcoming community. “Since increasing new public open space by more than 70 per cent in the past ten years, the city has thrived. There are now 650,000 people living, working and visiting inner city Melbourne each day – a 25 per cent increase on just four years ago. By 2014, that number will increase over 50 per cent again,” he wrote.

Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam and 2006 runner-up, started his essay with lines from Jacques Brel’s song ‘In the port of Amsterdam’. The mayor writes that the lines were characteristic of Amsterdam – and, of course, at the same time they were not. “Amsterdam, a modern city with all the problems, opportunities and, above all, its special aspects, is one of the smallest ‘world cities’. Some 170 nationalities make up its 750,000 inhabitants,” he explains.

Michel Thiollière, Mayor of St Etienne, explained in his essay how art and design are used to transform a city, marked by the upheavals caused by 200 years of industrial revolution, into a leading European metropolis.

Jejomar Binay, Mayor of Makati City, part of Metro Manila and the Philippine’s financial centre, used his essay to introduce his city to a worldwide audience and to describe its progress since the downfall of former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Augsburg Mayor Dr Paul Wengert writes in his essay that a city must be developed with its citizens. “The city belongs to the citizens and for that reason, they have to be included in the development of their immediate living space,” he says.

Dubravka Suica, Mayor of Dubrovnik and the only woman in the 2006 World Mayor top ten, described in her essay how in 2001, when she became mayor, the consequences of the Balkan war of the 1990s could still be felt. “We would prefer to forget that time, when houses and hotels had not yet been reconstructed, when there were few tourists in town, when the economy was weak, businesses in debt, unemployment high, infrastructure poor, and roads, schools, playgrounds and parks in disorder,” she wrote.