It was in the presence of young leaders of the movement that Luigi Di Maio announced his resignation on Wednesday evening. At the head of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) since September 2017, he led it in the legislative elections of March 2018 with 33% of the vote. But if he renounces the political leadership of the movement, he intends to remain Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also wants to remain very active within the movement. “It is time to refound, because today is the end of an era. From today, the movement will have representatives throughout the territory in an organized and structured manner. I’ve been working on this project for a year. And today I can say that I have finished my task. Today begins the path to the general states of the movement, the first in our history. A very important moment in which the M5S will draw a new idea of the country for the next decades, and we will all do it together.In no case does he renounce politics.
Looking to the future, he could not, however, escape past and present difficulties: “Governing such a heterogeneous movement is complicated, he says, because there are always divisions and dissatisfied. “ Or even designating his opponents, he adds: “Our worst enemies are those inside the movement who do not work for the movement but for their visibility.” This decision took its allies by surprise, a few days before the regional elections on January 26 in Emilia-Romagna. For several months, critics had been running against him. Reluctantly entering the alliance with the Democrats, Di Maio never played the alliance game on the left, trying by all means to play the role “Balance needle” by weighing with all its weight on each arbitration of the executive. An attitude that ended up undermining the work of the government, and angering the M5S parliamentarians who were mainly in favor of an alliance which remains for them the only way to avoid early elections.
More collegial governance
They also criticize his refusal to ally with the Democrats to confront Matteo Salvini in the elections in Emilia-Romagna. A decision which, by dividing the left, directly benefited the leader of the League who thus hopes to win this region controlled for 50 years by the left.
The number of dissatisfied members of the M5S has grown steadily, as Annalisa Cuzzocrea tells of La Repubblica. “Between those who had to leave the government with the change of alliance from the League to the PD, those who got nothing, neither in the government nor in committee, and who felt abandoned by the head of the movement, those who criticize him for his too great concentration of powers, finally those who no longer accept to pay 2,300 euros each month to the movement, the 5-star parliamentarians no longer support their political leader. ” Since March 2018, the M5S has lost 31 parliamentarians who have joined other groups, namely “A hemorrhage unprecedented in the history of Parliament” say it Fatto Quotidiano, the newspaper closest to the movement.
While a regent will assume the interim until the appointment of a new political leader, probably at the convention to be held from March 13 to 15, it is likely that the movement will adopt a more collegial governance. It is indeed the end of an era within the movement, that of the personal power of the political leader.
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