(See related) Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), urged his followers Monday to not lose heart despite the political party's failure to do as well as it expected in the European elections that ended Sunday.
"Do not be discouraged, (I am) confident that we can move forward," said Grillo, whose party won 21.16% of votes, in second place behind the ruling Democratic Party (PD) with 40.81%.
The M5S will make its mark as a strong opposition force that will demand positive changes to Italy, added Grillo in comments posted on his blog, one of his favoured methods of communication.
"We are the first opposition force, we will act more and more in opposition, we will be better and better and we will try to slow the bleeding of this country," said Grillo.
"We will be accurate, timely, and we will always be there, do not worry," he said.
Grillo, in acknowledging defeat in the vote for the European Parliament, said that there was still time to make a bigger impact on Italian politics. "We have time on our side," he said in a blog post with the title 'we will win next time'. At present, the country is shaped by generations of "retirees" who may fear change and do not seem to care about what sort of Italy they are leaving for the children and grandchildren - but that will change, said Grillo.
An M5S celebration event that had been planned for Rome on Monday was cancelled.
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