[2] As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates – Giuseppe Sala, an independent business executive and Milan Expo 2015 CEO, close to the Democratic Party (PD), and Stefano Parisi, former CEO of the telecommunication company Fastweb close to Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) – which Sala won by a narrow margin.

Following Pisapia's decision, the ruling centre-left coalition decided to call an open primary election to choose a new mayoral candidate.

[3] Four people registered to be candidates in this election: Giuseppe Sala, business executive and Milan Expo 2015 CEO;[4] Francesca Balzani, deputy mayor, responsible for Budget in the Milan's municipal government and former MEP;[5] Pierfrancesco Majorino, responsible for Social Equalities in the municipal government of the city;[6] Antonio Iannetta, former president of UISP (Italian Sport Union for Everyone).

Afterwards on 24 March 2016 with a closed virtual primary on the web, the Five Star Movement choose its new candidate, Gianluca Corrado, who received 632 votes out of 876.

[9] The semipresidential voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy of cities with a population higher than 15,000 for the sixth time.