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Italian protest party holds online vote for president

Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement party held an online vote on Thursday to select candidates to be the crisis-hit country's next president -- an unorthodox move before lawmakers begin voting on the post next week.

Published: 12 April 2013 09:41 CEST
Italian protest party holds online vote for president
M5S leader Grillo has proposed Nobel laureate playwright Dario Fo for president. Photo: Caulfieldh

Members of the protest party led by former comedian turned populist firebrand Beppe Grillo could propose their candidate for president through the party's website and a shortlist of the ten top names will be voted on next week.

The M5S as it is known by its Italian acronym said in a statement that the country's two main political forces — the centre-right and centre-left — wanted a president who would defend their interests and defend the status quo.

No other party is holding online voting.

"I believe the next president should not come from the political world or be someone who holds or has held a civil service job," said Grillo, who has proposed 87-year-old Nobel laureate playwright Dario Fo for the seven-year mandate. 

He accused the parties of deciding on candidates in "secret rooms", saying his movement was having "a public and democratic consultation".

Among the possible names mentioned by M5S supporters on social media was Gino Strada, the outspoken head of the international medical charity Emergency, and Milena Gabanelli, an investigative journalist on public television.

Thursday's voting wraps up at 1900 GMT.

The shortlist will be voted online again on Tuesday and the winner will be the official presidential candidate for the movement.

A joint session of parliament is due to meet to begin voting for a new president next Thursday.

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POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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