Beppe Grillo and Gianroberto
Casaleggio, the leaders of the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S), on Thursday demanded that Premier Matteo Renzi
give them a list of the candidates that he is considering
proposing for president before the start of voting for the new
head of State next week.
"We ask Renzi for the list of names that he will present
so we can put them to a vote of our members," read a post on
Grillo's popular website, which gave life to the Internet-based
M5S in 2009.
Grillo and Casaleggio added that the choice of the next
head of State, the arbiter of Italian politics, should not be
decided on the basis of another deal between Renzi and
three-time premier Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party.
They also bemoaned the fact that this is likely, in their
opinion.
The government is currently pushing through bills in
parliament for a new election law and an overhaul of Italy's
slow, costly political apparatus that are the result of the
so-called Nazareno pact Berlusconi and Renzi struck last year.
"We've reached the eve of the vote for the president and
only one thing is certain: the names of the pretenders will be
chosen by two people who will discuss candidates and their
advantages, above all personal ones, in a closed room," the post
read.
"This is the denial of democracy. The Berlusconi-Renzi duo
will dictate the names to vote on and a Nazareno president will
emerge, while we wait for them to form a single party of the
nation".
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