M5S may hold snap poll on Mattarella

(ANSA) - Rome, January 30 - Lawmakers for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) said Friday that it may hold a snap Internet poll of supporters to decide what to do in Saturday's fourth round of voting to elect a new president. The fourth round, when the majority needed drops to a simple majority of the 1,009 'grand electors', is expected to be crucial for Sergio Mattarella, a Constitutional Court justice and former minister who is the candidate of Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD). In the first three rounds of presidential ballots, the M5S voted for magistrate Ferdinando Imposimato after he came top in an online poll of supporters. Lawmakers and regional representatives for Renzi's PD cast blank papers in the first three rounds, when a two-thirds majority was needed to elect a new head of State. The M5S grand electors are set to meet at 21:00 to consider their next move.