Beppe Grillo's First Defeat? The May 2013 Municipal Elections in Italy

The article analyses the results of the Italian municipal elections held in May 2013. It focuses on their three most striking features: the clear victory of the centre-left coalition, the marked drop in voter turnout and the shrinkage of the Five Stars Movement (M5S). The article analyses the causes of the M5S' loss of votes and interprets this new party with reference to European (disaffection towards political institutions and the ‘counter-democracy’ phenomenon as explained by Rosanvallon) and Italian (the crumbling of the party system) variables.     

Don't Count Your Chickens before They're Hatched: The 2013 Italian Parliamentary and Presidential Elections

The 2013 parliamentary and presidential contests were both outstanding elections, even by Italian standards. In the former case, this was because of very high volatility and the breakthrough of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), which resulted in a hung parliament and a stalemate in the formation of a new government. In the latter, for the first time in Italian history, the incumbent President of the Republic was re-elected for a second seven-year term of office. The result of these two events was Italy's first grand coalition government, led by Enrico Letta and supported by President Napolitano. While the significance of these elections is better assessed in combination with new government's capacity to achieve economic growth and restore confidence in Italian politics, the Italian party system still remains in a state of flux.