From ‘Citizens’ to Members of Parliament: The Five Star Movement’s Elected Representatives in the Parliamentary Arena

The Five Star Movement’s (M5S) astonishing success in the 2013 general election, which saw the Movement secure as many as 109 deputies and 54 senators, has moved the M5S off the streets and into the parliamentary arena. Although Five Star representatives constitute the second largest group in the Chamber of Deputies and the third largest group in the Senate, the attitudes of the Movement towards parliamentarism remain critical. Representative democracy, and parliamentary politics in particular, have long been the target of criticism from its founder and leader Beppe Grillo. Even before the birth of the Movement, Grillo – who did not run as a candidate – had repeatedly attacked, in his speeches, the extreme bureaucratism characterising parliamentary procedures, as opposed to more direct forms of democracy. Moreover, during its electoral campaign the M5S frequently depicted the Italian parliament as a self-referential and inconclusive ‘talking shop’, where, despite their apparent differences, traditional political parties colluded with each other in perpetuating their own power and corruption. Similarly, elected members of parliament (MPs) were accused of being more interested in retaining office and their pay cheques, than in serving on behalf of voters. How the M5S reconcile these criticisms of the rules and practices of parliamentary politics with their obligation to operate in the parliamentary arena, is therefore an intriguing puzzle.