Low levels of voter turnout at
Sunday's regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Calabria
haven't hurt the 5-Star Movement (M5S), its leader Beppe Grillo
said Monday, even though both regions were won by the governing
Democratic Party (PD).
In a post on his blog, Grillo said citizens were rejecting
government policy which reflects the country's "lost democracy".
Overall, the M5S increased its total number of votes in
Emilia-Romagna, winning about 159,400 votes compared with more
than 126,600 votes in a 2010 regional election.
Grillo said that in absolute terms, all of the other major
parties lost voters, with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza
Italia (FI) taking possibly the greatest hit, dropping from
about 500,000 votes in 2010 to 100,500.
In Emilia-Romagna just 37.7% of voters cast ballots,
compared to 70% in May's European elections.
In Calabria the turnout was 44.1%, compared to 45.5% in
the European elections.
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