Rome, Nov. 25, (dpa/GNA) – Italy’s former governing party the Five Star Movement has broken with its founder Beppe Grillo after a prolonged power struggle within its own ranks.
A majority of party members voted to abolish Grillo’s self-created position of so-called guarantor on Sunday. As guarantor, Grillo wanted to protect the founding values of the party.
For some time, there has been a dispute between the current head of the Five Star Movement, Italy’s former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, and Grillo about the future of the party.
Conte is pursuing a transformation of the former anti-establishment protest movement into a left-leaning force. Grillo, on the other hand, accuses Conte of abandoning the party’s grassroots principles and adapting to the political establishment.
The dispute came to a head last month when Conte decided not to renew Grillo’s one-year contract as the party’s communications consultant, a position that was worth €300,000 ($314,000).
The television comedian Grillo founded the movement in 2009. It was a governing party from 2018 to 2022. Conte served as Italy’s prime minister from 2018 to 2021.
However, in recent years the party has lost ground due to political U-turns and internal disputes and is currently polling at just under 11%.
At a “constituent assembly” on Sunday, party members also voted in favour of a series of decisive reforms to the party statutes. The supporters denied a proposal to ban alliances with other parties.
This could pave the way for close cooperation with the main opposition party, Partito Democratico, in the fight against the right-wing coalition of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which has been in power for two years.
GNA