words by Gabi Logan
In the municipal elections on the 6th and 7th of May, comedian-turned-activist Beppe Grillo’s Cinque Stelle (Five Star) party catapulted into political prominence with its largest ever showing at the polls. Meanwhile, the three largest political parties combined won just 37 per cent of the vote.
Cinque Stelle made its strongest showing in Parma, taking 19 per cent of the vote and moving on to the run-off mayoral election. In Grillo’s hometown Genoa, the party captured 15 per cent of the vote, and in Verona, they took 9 per cent. Roberto Castiglion won in the first round to become Cinque Stelle’s first mayor, albeit in a small town in the Veneto, Sarego.
The party—via Grillo—advocates for consumer and environment protection and against corruption, tax hikes, and, recently, the euro. During its first showing at the polls in 2010, the party captured just 1.8 per cent of the vote, but its gains in this election highlight the growing public frustration with the austerity measures imposed by Mario Monti’s technocratic government.
Founded in 2009, the party is an offshoot of the political agenda of Grillo’s blog BeppeGrillo.it, the most read blog in Italy. The movement has gained momentum through Grillo’s impassioned demonstrations, most notably the anti-corruption-focused “V Day”, standing for vendetta, vengeance, and vaffanculo. Grillo, a former accountant, has unveiled corruption scandals at major Italian companies, including Parmalat, Fiat, and Telecom Italia, for the last two decades.
One of Cinque Stelle’s initiatives is “Clean Parliament”, a citizen-initiated piece of legislation proposing to ban convicted criminals from Parliament. As Grillo himself has been convicted of vehicular manslaughter, this mandate poses an interesting problem for his political future. He told Australian ABC, “I’m not a danger, I don’t want to be president of Italy or prime minister. I’m a comedian.” But his lack of clear agenda may be what concerns the major political parties the most.
