Beppe Grillo, the founder of the Five Star Movement, is in favour of supporting a Draghi government
Credit: AP
Italy’s once fiercely anti-establishment Five Star Movement is to vote on whether to support a new government led by Mario Draghi, who as a former head of the European Central Bank could hardly epitomise the establishment more.
A ‘yes’ vote would signal an end to the party’s origins as a firebrand populist movement opposed to the political status quo – credentials that have already been weakened by Five Star’s involvement in the last two coalition governments.
Around 100,000 paid-up supporters of Five Star will be eligible to vote in a 24-hour online referendum, starting on Wednesday and ending Thursday.
Votes will be cast via an online direct democracy platform known as Rousseau, although critics point out that in the past it has been vulnerable to hacking and the result will not be independently audited.
The question of supporting a part-technocrat, part-political Draghi administration has sharply divided the party, with its leader, the bearded comic Beppe Grillo, strongly advocating a ‘yes’ vote while rebels have urged supporters to vote ‘no.’
Chief among them is Alessandro De Battista, a rising star in the movement who has described Mr Draghi as “an apostle of the elite” and argued that it would be “totally a mistake” to support him.
If the result of the online referendum is no, that will cause problems for Mr Draghi because Five Star is the largest party in parliament.
It would not be a deal-breaker, however. Italy’s other big parties have lined up in support of the former Goldman Sachs banker, from the centre-Left Democratic Party to Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has thrown his support behind
Credit: AP
Even the hard-Right League has dropped its insistence that Italy should head to new elections and now seems to be in favour of a Draghi government.
“Draghi would be able to form a government even without Five Star, but his majority would be slimmer,” said Roberto D’Alimonte, a professor of politics at Luiss University in Rome.
“But I don’t think the result will be no. Grillo has come out very strongly in favour of this new government and I think supporters will follow his lead,” he told The Telegraph.
“You can’t really call Five Star anti-establishment anymore. It is a process that has been going on for years and this would be the last step.”
For the League and Five Star to support a government led by Mr Draghi, whose pro-Europe credentials are impeccable, is an extraordinary volte-face for two parties that have been deeply sceptical of the EU and the euro.
Mario Draghi is in talks to form a new government
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Italians have a word for a broad coalition made up of many parties – a minestrone government.
“But in this case I think it will be a good minestrone. I think it could be positive for the country,” said Prof D’Alimonte.
Mr Berlusconi, whose bunga bunga party days are long behind him, said parties should unite behind Mr Draghi because Italy faced an “exceptional” crisis – a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 90,000 people and the biggest economic contraction since the Second World War.
Splits within the Five Star Movement were “demonstrations of political infantilism,” he told La Repubblica newspaper. “They explain the decline of the party,” he added.
Italy’s political crisis was precipitated last month when Matteo Renzi, a former prime minister, withdrew the support of his small centrist party from the governing coalition, made up of Five Star and the Democratic Party.
Italy’s president asked Mr Draghi to try to form a new government and he is currently holding talks with all parties in a bid to stitch together a majority. If successful, he could be sworn in by the end of the week.
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