ROME • The anti-establishment Five-Star Movement trounced Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in local elections last weekend, clouding his chances of completing a five-year term and winning a referendum he has called on constitutional reform.
Five-Star, which feeds off popular anger over widespread graft, won in 19 of the 20 towns or cities where it had advanced to the run-offs, including Turin and Rome, where Ms Virginia Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer, became the first woman mayor.
The party has so far controlled just a handful of medium-sized towns. Success in Rome and Turin could prove a springboard to victory in national elections due in 2018.
Protest parties have made inroads in a number of European countries in recent years, and Five-Star's advances in Italy at the weekend meant that a major European Union capital will be governed by a party which wants Italy to drop the euro.
"I will be a mayor for all Romans," said Ms Raggi, who won 67 per cent of the vote. "I will restore legality and transparency to the city's institutions after 20 years of poor governance. With us, a new era is opening."
As a consolation for Mr Renzi, his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) held on to power in Italy's financial capital, Milan, and in the northern city of Bologna, beating more traditional, centre-right candidates in both places.
Mr Renzi has said he would not step down whatever the results on Sunday. Instead, he has pinned his political future on an October referendum that, he said, will bring stability to Italy and end its tradition of revolving-door governments.
But the losses in Rome and Turin suggest he might struggle to rally the nation behind him, with opposition parties lined up to reject his reform and even his own PD divided.
Party bigwigs stayed off TV screens on Sunday night as they tried to digest the results, but the PD said in a statement the vote had "national indications" that would be discussed at a special meeting of party leaders on Friday.
"The run-off results in Rome and Turin were a clear and unqualified defeat for PD candidates," the statement said.
PD vice-president Matteo Ricci said yesterday that the party would have to carry out a "profound analysis" of the results and reorganise itself, particularly at the base.
"We need a stronger, more structured party, with a more visible leadership that helps Renzi," he said, alluding to the PD's internal divisions, which analysts said would be exacerbated by the results.
The PD's defeat in Rome had been expected after widespread criticism of its management of the city over the past three years.
But the loss in Turin, a centre-left stronghold and home of carmaker Fiat, was a major shock.
The incumbent, Mr Piero Fassino, a veteran party heavyweight, was swept aside by Ms Chiara Appendino, 31, who overturned an 11-point gap after the first round to win 55 per cent of the vote.
Comedian Beppe Grillo, 67, who founded Five-Star seven years ago, has mostly retreated from front- line politics over the past 18 months, making way for younger politicians who have given the protest party a broader appeal.
Five-Star's protests against rampant corruption in Italian public life remains its chief asset. However, analysts say it has outgrown its image as purely a party of protest.
Its policies include universal income support for the poor, tougher penalties on white-collar crime and tax evasion, closing down or privatising many publicly owned companies and cutting taxes for small businesses.
Across the country, turnout fell sharply, signalling growing disenchantment with politics. Just 50.5 per cent of those eligible to vote, or about 8.6 million people - about a fifth of the total electorate - went to the polls, against some 60 per cent two weeks ago.
REUTERS
