'Huge' M5S primary participation, hacker attacks repelled

(ANSA) - Rome, September 22 - The 5-Star Movement's (M5S) said Friday that participation in its online primary to select its premier candidate for next year's general election was huge, adding that hacker attacks had been successfully fended off.
    "(The participation level) was among the among the best ever," read a post on the blog of M5S leader Beppe Grillo.
    "Our home was defended like a fortress... Attempted hacker attacks were repelled".
    The post said the M5S systems had gathered evidence on the attempted hacks that it will forward to the postal police. Voting had to be extended into Friday after the primary got off to slow start Thursday as the M5S IT system got clogged up because of the high number of people trying to use it at the same time.
    Lower House Deputy Speaker Luigi Di Maio is favourite to be the group's premier candidate as he is the only M5S heavyweight standing among the eight contenders. The winner will be announced on Saturday evening at an M5S rally in Rimini.