The 2008 World Mayor Commendation has been awarded to Elmar Ledergerber, 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. The Mayor believes everyone, Swiss or non-Swiss, living in Zurich should feel the city is their home.

Third place has been given 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.