In just over four years of legislature, the representation of the M5s in Parliament between the Chamber and the Senate has halved: from 331 to 165 parliamentarians. A process that began with the expulsions of non-“aligned” parliamentarians, continued with the split on the occasion of the first vote of confidence in the Draghi government in February 2021 and ended a month ago with the breakup wanted by Luigi Di Maio, who brought with him a sixty grillini (53 in the Chamber and 11 in the Senate) creating “Together for the future”.
Possible new diaspora
But the government crisis could lead to a new diaspora. According to some forecasts, the Chamber is considering leaving about thirty deputies. In that case, the M5s group would drop below 100, now with 104 members, less than half of the 222 elected to the 2018 policies. states Francesco Berti and Cinzia Leone, who joined Ipf (Together for the future) when last week the Movement decided not to vote for confidence in aid. The new group created by Di Maio has become the main destination of the former grillini, together with Misto.
The first expulsions
The first to end up in the latter tank were four deputies expelled from the M5s even before taking office, for violations of the internal rules on voluntary restitutions. Then the deputy-sailor Andrea Mura was expelled, at the center of the controversy due to his numerous absences. In 2019 the same fate fell to Sara Cunial, who later became known for her no-vax positions, and in the same year three other colleagues left the M5s.
The birth of Alternativa and Ipf
The path of government with the League instead led to the expulsions for dissent of senators Elena Fattori, Paola Nugnes and Gregorio De Falco, who ended up in the Mixed. The trend increased in 2020, between expulsions and group changes, especially towards Mixed but also towards Pd, Leu and Lega. In dissent, he left the former minister Lorenzo Fioramonti at the beginning of the year, while in December four deputies went to the Mixed, opposed to the reform of the Mes, an issue on which three senators, who had passed to the League, had broken up a year earlier. The next great diaspora took place on the occasion of the launch of the Draghi government, with the expulsion of the 26 deputies who did not vote for confidence: many of them created the Alternativa group. To end with the mega-split wanted by Di Maio, in dissent with Conte’s foreign policy.