Italian election 2018: What is the Five Star Movement and why was it created?

The Five Star Movement (M5S) was started by Giuseppe Peiro Grillo, also known as ‘Beppe’, a popular comedian and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web entrepreneur, in 2009.

They created the very popular blog and social networking site Meetup.com.

The aim was to bring together supporters and activists, campaign on local issues and field candidates for elections. 

The movement was created as a new form of direct democracy and a reaction against Italy’s corrupt politics.

Federico Faloppa, Director of Italian Studies at University of Reading, said: “The M5S is variously considered populist, anti-establishment, environmentalist, anti-globalist, Eurosceptic, and anti-vaccines, and it escapes the traditional left vs right paradigm.”

In 2009, the ‘National Five Star Movement’ was launched and the party ran in the regional elections in 2010 and 2011, where they obtained notable results.

Since then they have constantly and rapidly grown and in the 2013 general election, they were the second most voted for party and were the most voted for party for the Chamber of Deputies – they took 25 percent of the vote. 

However as the party refused to form a coalition, M5S obtained just 109 deputies out of 630 and the centre-right coalition gained more seats in parliament.

In European Parliament, the M5S is part of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group along with UKIP, however in 2017 Grillo proposed to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, but the party was refused.

M5S has been openly against the EU, but has now become more Eurosceptic.

Leader Luigi Di Maio, said M5S does not want to quit the European Union but wants to change the rules.

M5S had initially signalled a possible exit from the single currency but as the election loomed Di Maio ditched the threat to leave the Euro.

The party leader told Italian television: “I believe it is no longer the right moment for Italy to leave the Euro.” 

Dr Faloppa said: “From the beginning, they have been vocally Eurosceptical and against the Euro, by proposing a referendum to leave the currency, but in the last few months – especially to reassure European partners and investors, in case the Movement wins the election – Luigi DI Maio has dropped the anti-Euro rhetoric, and softened the party’s position towards the EU.” 

Paolo Cossarini, teaching fellow in Politics and International Relations at Loughborough University said in preparation for the 2018 general election, M5S have instead focused more on corruption, local government and internal affairs in Italy.

Earlier this year, co-founder Grillo stepped aside from the party ahead of the Italian election.

Some have speculated the move was to bolster the party’s chance of winning before the general election.

He had been distancing himself from the party for quite some time and had avoided appearances at the party’s events and in September Di Maio was elected as leader. 

Dr Cossarini said: “Grillo started to be criticised over the last year. He thought it would be better to step aside, not to be the spokesperson or the leader. 

“It would be better to leave it to Di Maio and the new generation to bring fresh air into Italian politics, and also because he felt they were losing the connection to the young people in Italy.”

The Five Star Movement was leading the latest opinion polls, and the latest survey show the party gaining between 27% and 30% of the vote.