On February 24th and 25th all Italian citizens above the age of 18 were called to vote for the new Parliament. After almost 20 years of declining stagnation under Berlusconi’s rule, and after the brief but devastating experience of ‘austerity politics’ as enforced by Monti, everybody expected the Italian Left to conquer absolute majority in both chambers of the Parliament. Electoral results came as a shock to most: Berlusconi caught up with the Left-wing coalition, gathering almost 30% of the votes, Monti’s party stopped at 10%, while Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S), an as-yet-unseen populist movement led by former TV comedian Beppe Grillo, conquered an unexpected 25% of preferences and became the single most voted party in a hung Parliament.
Although there are several interesting aspects to this situation – not least the Left’s astonishing inability to win even under the most favourable conditions, or Berlusconi’s equally astonishing ability to survive against all odds – I would like to focus on Beppe Grillo’s M5S, which constitutes an interesting and dangerous novelty in the Italian and European scenarios.
