A Palermo court on Tuesday suspended the outcome of the 5-Star Movement's primaries in Sicily, which saw Giancarlo Cancelleri elected the anti-establishment group's governor candidate via an online poll. The court confirmed a decision taken provisionally earlier this month. The move follows an appeal by activist Mauro Giulivi, who was excluded from the so-called 'Regionarie' for allegedly failing to sign an M5S code of conduct in the necessary time frame. The court said the activist's rights had been damaged. The Sicilian regional elections take place November 5.
Cancelleri said he will remain the M5S's governor candidate. "Cancelleri was, and will be, the M5S governor candidate," read a post on the blog of the movement's leader Beppe Grillo.
He added that "we are out of time" to hold new primaries, asserting that the deadline to present the symbol linked to the electoral list is Saturday. The M5S did not have a candidate at council elections in Genoa earlier this year because of legal dispute after the movement's leadership failed to back the winner of its online primary there.
Questions have also been raised about the credibility of the movement's primaries to select its candidate to be premier in next year's general election.
The only M5S heavyweight to stand is Lower House Deputy Speaker Luigi Di Maio.
Seven other relatively unknown figures have also been admitted to the leadership primary, but their profile is so low many have said that Di Maio is effectively running unopposed.
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