Alessandro Di Battista, an MP
with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), on Monday
took to his Facebook page in defence of the movement's published
code of rules governing its candidates in the upcoming Rome
administrative elections.
"The attack on M5S continues. In a country where they
arrest a member of the government's party each day, the problem
is always what M5S is doing," Di Battista wrote on his Facebook
page.
"The drama is a Rome code of behaviour that is needed for
respect of the rules and the programme," he wrote.
"We can respond only by putting forth more effort".
Di Battista confirmed the existence in the code of a clause
that quantifies at 150,000 euros the penalty that will be
assessed to M5S candidates found "in violation of the rules
contained in the code".
The 150,000-euro penalty, calculated as the cost of damage
to M5S's image, was also discussed in Monday's edition of
Italian daily La Stampa, and "takes effect upon the
(candidate's) notification of a formal complaint by staff
coordinated by Beppe Grillo and Gianroberto Casaleggio".
Grillo's blog on Monday said that the "main points" of the
Rome Code, including the image-damage penalty, "are roughly
identical to those already included in previous codes of conduct
for the national elections in 2013 and European elections in
2014".
"We have nothing to hide," said the blog post.
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