Five Star Movement



The Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle, M5S), originally known as Movement of National Liberation (Movimento di Liberazione Nazionale), is an Italian political party launched by Beppe Grillo, a popular comedian and blogger, and Gianroberto Casaleggio on 4 October 2009. The party is populist,  ecologist, and partially Eurosceptic. It also advocates direct democracy and free access to the Internet, and condemns corruption.

2010 regional elections
At the 2010 regional elections the M5S obtained notable results in the five regions where it run a candidate for President: Giovanni Favia gained 7.0% of the vote in Emilia-Romagna (6.0% for the list, 2 regional councillors elected), Davide Bono 4.1% in Piedmont (3.7%, 2 councillors), David Borrelli 3.2% in Veneto (2.6%, no councillors), Vito Crimi 3.0% in Lombardy (2.3%, no councillors) and Roberto Fico 1.3% in Campania (1.3%, no councillors).

2012 local elections
At the 2012 local elections the M5S did well in several cities of the North, notably in Genoa (14.1%), Verona (9.5%), Parma (19.9%), Monza (10.2%), and Piacenza (10.0%). In the small Venetian town of Sarego, the M5S's candidate was elected mayor with 35.2% of the vote (there is no run-off in towns with less than 15,000 inhabitants). In the run-offs the party won the mayorships of Parma (60.2%), Mira (52.5%), and Comacchio (69.2%).

After the election, the party has consistently scored around 15-20% nationally in opinion polls, frequently ahead of The People of Freedom and second just to the Democratic Party (see 2013 general election).

2012 Sicilian regional election
At the Sicilian regional elections of 2012 the M5S filed as candidate Giancarlo Cancelleri. The campaign kicked-off with Grillo's arrival in Messina on 10 October swimming from the mainland. In the election Cancelleri came third with 18.2% of the vote, while the M5S was the most voted party with 14.9%, obtaining 15 seats out of 90 in the Regional Assembly, in a very fragmented political landscape. The election was however characterized by a low participation as only 47.4% of eligible voters effectively turned out to vote.

2013 general election
On 29 October, Grillo announced the guidelines for standing as party candidates in the 2013 general election. For the first time in the world, the candidates were chosen by party members through an online primary between 3 and 6 December.

On 12 December, Grillo expelled two leading members from the party: Giovanni Favia, regional councillor of Emilia-Romagna, and Federica Salsi, municipal councillor in Bologna. The former had talked about the lack of democracy within the party, while the latter had taken part in a political talk show on Italian television, something that was discouraged and later forbidden by Grillo.