Mayors from 50 cities compete
for the 2008 World Mayor Award
By Tann vom Hove, Editor

Citizens from all over the world took part in record numbers in the first round of the 2008 World Mayor contest, which was carried out in 2007. More than 100,000 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. Citizens were also asked to provide a supporting statement when nominating a mayor for the World Mayor title. VOTING CLOSES AT THE END OF JUNE. The results will be announced in September.

Africa | North America | Latin America | Asia | Europe

According to city residents from all continents, a great mayor must possess these qualities: good administrative abilities, able to provide safety and security and protect the environment, as well as having the ability to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds. The World Mayor Project was first carried out in 2004. As in previous years, the 2008 contest again seeks out mayors who have the vision, passion and skills to make their cities amazing places in which to live and work - and visit. The World Mayor Project aims to show what outstanding mayors can achieve, and thus raise their profiles. It honours those who have both served their communities well and contributed to the well being of cities nationally and internationally. The most outstanding mayor of 2008 will be presented with the World Mayor Award.

Based on the number of nominations and the persuasiveness of supporting statements, City Mayors, the organisers of the World Mayor project, has drawn up a list of 50 finalists. The list includes 11 mayors from Asia, 10 from North America and 11 from Latin America, 15 from Europe, as well as 3 from Africa.

Some of the finalists for this year’s World Mayor title are from the world’s best-known and largest cities, while others represent smaller communities. Most of this year’s finalists have been 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)

The 50 finalists of 2008
Names in blue have been profiled (click on link)
AFRICA
• Omar El Bahraoui, Mayor of Rabat, Morocco
• Helen Zille, Cape Town, South Africa
• Amos Masondo, Johannesburg, South Africa



NORTH AMERICA
• Stephen Mandel, Edmonton, Canada
• Sam Katz, Winnipeg, Canada
• Martin Chavez, Albuquerque, USA
• Michael B Coleman, Columbus, USA
• Mufi Hannemann, Honolulu, USA
• Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles, USA
• Willie W Herenton, Memphis, USA
• Manny Diaz, Miami, USA
• Raymond Thomas Rybak, Minneapolis, USA
• Phil Gordon, Phoenix, USA



LATIN AMERICA
• Julio César Pereyra, Mayor of Florencio Varela, Argentina
• José Fogaça, Porto Alegre, Brazil
• Juan Contino Aslán, Havana, Cuba
• Jaime Nebot, Guayaquil, Ecuador
• Paco Moncayo, Quito, Ecuador
• Salvador Gandara, Villa Nueva, Guatemala
• Antonio Astiazaran, Guaymas, Mexico
• Ernesto Gandara, Hermosillo, Mexico
• Ricardo Ehrlich, Montevideo, Uruguay
• Juan Barreto, Caracas, Venezuela
• Leopoldo Eduardo López, Chacao, Venezuela



ASIA
• Han Zheng, Shanghai, China
• Zhang Guangning, Guangzhou, China
• C M Sheila Dikshit, Delhi, India
• Fauzi Bowo, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, Tehran, Iran
• Tadatoshi Akiba, Hiroshima, Japan
• Hiroshi Nakada, Yokohama, Japan
• Marides Fernando, Marikina City, Philippines
• Vladimir Gorodets, Novosibirsk, Russia
• Park Wan-soo, Changwon City, South Korea
• Kadir Topbas, Istanbul, Turkey



EUROPE
• Patrick Janssens, Antwerp, Belgium
• Boiko Borisov, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Eleni Mavrou, Nicosia, Cyprus
• Bertrand Delanoë, Paris, France
• Pierre Albertini, Rouen, France**
• Jens Böhrnsen, Bremen, Germany
• Ulrich Maly, Nürnberg, Germany
• Wolfgang Schuster, Stuttgart, Germany
• Kyriakos Virvidakis, Chania, Greece
• Sergio Cofferati, Bologna, Italy
• Walter Veltroni, Rome, Italy*
• Rafal Dutkiewicz, Wroclaw, Poland
• Rosa Aguilar, Cordoba, Spain
• Göran Johansson, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Elmar Ledergerber, Zurich, Switzerland

*On 13 February 2008 Walter Veltroni resigned as Mayor of Rome to campaign to become Italian Prime Minister.
** Pierre Albertini was defeated in local elections held on 9 March 2008.