World Mayor
City Mayors
London SW1
England
Freiburg (Germany)
Tel: +49 761 211 6769
Email:
editor@worldmayor.com
Internet:
www.worldmayor.com
FRONT PAGE
About us
The 2008 results
The 2008 project
The 2008 finalists
The World Mayor Award
Helen Zille says thank you
With Mayor of Cape Town
With Mayor of Zurich
On Mayor of Cape Town
On Mayor of Chacao
On Mayor of Gothenburg
On Mayor of Guayaquil
On Mayor of Marikina City
On Mayor of Memphis
On Mayor of Nuremberg
On Mayor of Phoenix
On Mayor of Porto Alegre
On Mayor of Tehran
On Mayor of Villa Nueva
On Mayor of Zurich
The 2006 results
Methodology
The 2006 finalists
The World Mayor Award
Dora Bakoyannis congratulates John So
The 2005 results
Contest methodology
List of finalists
Winning mayors write
Mayor Rama writes - Mayor Bakoyannis replies
The 2004 contest
List of all 2004 finalists
Edi Rama wins 2004 award
People ask - Edi Rama replies
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About City Mayors
Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town
wins the 2008 World Mayor Award
By Tann vom Hove, Editor
14 October 2008: Helen Zille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town and leader of South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance, has been chosen as World Mayor 2008. Commentators supporting her nomination said that in a country devoid of present-day role models, this amazing lady was making a difference and giving people there hope: “Her only equals are Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela in Southern Africa.”| The project | Methodology | The top 11 mayors of World Mayor 2008 |
Runner-up of the 2008 World Mayor Project is Elmar Ledergerber, social democratic Mayor of Zurich. The mayor (Stadtpräsident) deserves this honour because of his ability to build bridges between the wealthy sections of society in the city and the less well-off. He also stresses the importance of making immigrants, which are vital to Zurich’s economy, feel at home in the city. Third place has been awarded to Leopoldo López, Mayor of Chacao and prominent Venezuelan opposition politician. He is admired as a hands-on mayor as well as a national politician fighting for democratic openness and fairness in Venezuela.
Phil Gordon, Mayor of Phoenix (USA) and Ulrich Maly, Mayor of Nürnberg (Germany) complete the top five. Previous winners of the of the World Mayor Project are, in 2004, Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana and now also Albania’s opposition leader, in 2005, Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens and now Greek foreign minister, and in 2006, John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
The project
World Mayor, a project organised by the urban affairs think tank City Mayors, aims to raise the profile of mayors worldwide as well as to honour those who have made long-lasting contributions to their communities and are committed to the well-being of cities nationally and internationally. According to city residents from all continents, a great mayor must possess these qualities: leadership and vision, good management abilities, social and economic awareness, ability to provide security and to protect the environment as well as having the skill to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds. The World Mayor Project was first carried out in 2004.
In 2004, Edi Rama won the Award for his achievements in turning the drab and neglected post-communist capital of Albania into a thriving western European city, before being chosen as leader of the country’s Socialist Party. As mayor, Dora Bakoyannis contributed substantially to the success of the Athens Olympics and ensured that the Games would be of long-lasting benefit to the Greek capital. After receiving the 2005 World Mayor Award, she was appointed Greek foreign minister. John So, the winner of World Mayor 2006, is Melbourne’s first directly elected Lord Mayor. Born in Hong Kong, he is an example of the ‘Australian dream’.
Prior to entering politics, Helen Zille made a name for herself as a political journalist, working for the Rand Daily Mail, South Africa’s leading liberal newspaper during the apartheid era. While at the paper, she emerged as a leading anti-apartheid critic, famously exposing the circumstances behind Steve Biko’s death in police custody in 1977. Since becoming Mayor of Cape Town in March 2006, Helen Zille has overcome an aborted attempt by the provincial government to downgrade her office and an attempted coalition coup. To the people of Cape Town, the Mayor is an inspiration and shining example of good local government.
Methodology
The 2008 World Mayor Project was conducted over an 18-month period, starting in spring 2007. During 2007, City Mayors, the organisers of the project, invited a worldwide audience to submit nominations of mayors deemed worthy of being among the most outstanding city leaders in the world. More than 74,000 voters nominated a total of 820 mayors for this year’s World Mayor Award. Some mayors received thousands of nominations while others collected only a handful. The organisers of World Mayor 2008 only considered those nominations which were accompanied by supporting testimonials.
Based on the number of nominations and the persuasiveness of supporting statements, City Mayors drew up a long-list of 50 finalists. The list included 11 mayors from Asia, 10 from North America and 11 from Latin America as well as 15 mayors from Europe and 3 from Africa.
Some of the 2008 finalists for the World Mayor title were from the world’s best-known and largest cities, while others represented smaller communities. Most of this year’s finalists were being short-listed for the first time. Under the World Mayor rules, winners and runner-ups from previous years were not eligible. They include John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne (Australia), Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Hazel McCallion, Mayor of Mississauga (Canada) and Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana (Albania).
During the second round of World Mayor 2008, from January to July, voters were invited to select from the long-list of 50 their choice of title candidate. While in previous years, simple click voting was permitted, although not encouraged, in 2008 this voting method was not allowed. In order to have their votes registered, participants had to provide a reasoned comment. Some 205,000 people from around the world participated in the second round of World Mayor 2008.
In July 2008, City Mayors’ editors drew up a short-list of eleven mayors, who stood out in terms of number of votes and quality of comment from their supporters. Between July and the end of September, the organisers of the World Mayor Project, consulted and took advise on who of the eleven mayors from the final shortlist should receive the 2008 World Mayor Award. Among the editors of City Mayors, Helen Zille was the unanimous choice.
The 2008 top 11 mayors
While the total numbers of votes cast for the mayors in the top eleven exceeded 85,000, the number of votes received by individual mayors did not have a significant bearing on the decisions by the judging panel of editors. They were primarily influenced by the passion and persuasiveness of testimonials bestowed to mayors. As some city leaders in the top eleven represent communities of several million people while others are mayors of cities of less than 500,000 residents, the City Mayors panel of editors was of the opinion that basing judgement on numbers alone would unfairly disadvantage mayors from smaller cities.
The top 10 mayors of World Mayor 2006
| Rank | Mayor | City | Country |
| 1 | Helen Zille | Cape Town | South Africa |
| 2 | Elmar Ledergerber | Zurich | Switzerland |
| 3 | Leopoldo Eduardo López | Chacao | Venezuela |
| 4 | Phil Gordon | Phoenix | USA |
| 5 | Ulrich Maly | Nürnberg | Germany |
| 6 | Jaime Nebot | Guayaquil | Ecuador |
| 7 | Marides Fernando | Marikina City | Philippines |
| 8 | Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf | Tehran | Iran |
| 9 | Göran Johansson | Gothenburg | Sweden |
| 10 | Salvador Gándara | Villa Nueva | Guatemala |
| 11 | José Fogaça | Porto Alegre | Brazil |
Introducing
World Mayor
The World Mayor project, organised by City Mayors, seeks out mayors who have the vision, passion and skills to make their cities amazing places to live in, work in and visit.
The World Mayor Project aims to show what outstanding mayors can achieve as well as raise their profiles nationally and internationally. It honours those who have served their communities selflessly and courageously and who have made significant contributions to the well-being of cities. The most outstanding mayor of 2008 will be presented with the World Mayor Award.
Previous winners and runner-ups
In 2006
Winner: John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne (Australia)
Runner-up: Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
In 2005:
Winner: Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens (Greece)
Runner-up: Hazel McCallion, Mayor of Mississauga (Canada)
In 2004:
Winner: Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana (Albania)
Runner-up: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mayor of Mexico City (Mexico)