Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso on
Sunday took the helm of a new party on the left of the Italian
political spectrum, Liberi e Uguali - Free and Equal.
The party is being formed by the merger of several groups on
the left of the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
It features many former prominent PD members who quit the
party, largely due to hostility towards leader and ex-premier
Matteo Renzi.
They have ruled out forming an alliance with the PD for the
general election that is set to be held early next year.
Grasso, a former national anti-mafia prosecutor, recently
left the PD in protest at how a new election law was pushed
through parliament.
At a meeting on Sunday, Grasso dismissed the argument that
voting for Free and Equal would amount to wasting a vote on a
small party and contribute to splitting the left, and possibly
helping the centre right or the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S) win.
"The real useful vote is for us," said Grasso.
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