Anti-establishment candidate Virginia Raggi took the lead in the first round of the Rome mayoral race Sunday and will face the ruling party's contender in a run-off vote, exit polls showed.

Raggi, of the Five Star party, won between 33 and 38 percent of votes, according to exit polls by public broadcaster RAI and La7 television. She was trailed by Robert Giachetti of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party, who secured 20 to 26 percent of the vote.