A maverick comic who wants Italy to quit the euro made big gains in local elections yesterday while former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s party lost heavily, as voters joined a wave of anti-austerity anger across Europe and punished incumbent parties.
Italian prime minister Mario Monti was not in the race, but for the two main parties that support his technocrat government, the centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) and the centre-left Democratic Party, the vote was the biggest barometer of support ahead of national elections next year.
The 5 Star Movement led by Beppe Grillo, a shaggy-haired comedian whose caustic invective against the established parties has gained increasing resonance, made some spectacular advances.
In the northern city of Parma, it knocked the PDL, which had previously ruled the city, into third place, winning a score of nearly 21 per cent, and in Genoa won 15 per cent, according to early projections.
At its first political test in 2010, the movement, which organises itself through the internet and social networks, won just 1.8 per cent of the vote, rising to 3.4 per cent at Milan’s mayoral election the following year.