The M5S ‘lends’ a senator to Maraio and Onorato to get round the signature threshold

And so it is the Mixed Group. Luigi Nave, a senator from the Five Star Movement, has in the last few hours moved from his party’s group to the Mixed Group in the Senate. There has been no rift with Giuseppe Conte or the other senators; the move is entirely political and is intended to help Enzo Maraio and Alessandro Onorato ahead of the forthcoming general election. Yesterday, the Chamber of Deputies approved the new electoral law, which, amongst other things, introduced a significant requirement for new political formations: in order to stand for election, new parties not represented in Parliament must collect 6,000 signatures for each constituency within fifteen days of the date of the dissolution of Parliament. In total, around 400,000. For parties that already have a seat in Parliament but do not have their own parliamentary group, however, the requirement is limited to 1,500 signatures.

Nave’s ‘move’ is thus explained: the Five Star Movement has heeded the appeal made by Alessandro Onorato and Enzo Maraio several weeks ago, when this legislation was passed by the Senate (and yesterday definitively confirmed by the Chamber of Deputies), in which they asked the broad coalition to ‘lend’ some MPs to form a group that would significantly reduce the number of signatures required.

Today, therefore, the Five Star Movement senator is listed under the Avs symbol in the Mixed Group (in the Senate, a single MP is sufficient), but party sources explain that a sub-group will subsequently be formed within the group under the symbol Avanti Psi-Progetto civico Italia. Sources at Campo Marzio say that they have accepted “the invitation extended by civic movements and local councillors across Italy”, as they believe that “citizens’ participation cannot be restricted”. It was therefore “not a political manoeuvre” but a move “against a law that curtails freedoms and is anti-democratic”.