Your Daily Grillo

The 5 Star Party will ask the Italian President to form the next Italian government:

Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement said on Sunday it wanted to lead Italy's next government following last month's inconclusive election and reiterated that it would not agree to an alliance with any other party.

The movement's newly elected parliamentary leaders told reporters it would make this position clear to President Giorgio Napolitano when he begins consultations later this month on the formation of a government.

"Our proposal will be a 5-Star government," the movement's Senate leader Vito Crimi said after a meeting of its lawmakers in a Rome hotel.

It is unlikely that the other parties would accept a government led by the 5-Star Movement. This is partly because of policy differences and partly because although it was the most voted single party at the election, 5-Star has fewer seats in parliament than the center-left and center-right coalitions.

I think that Italian politics is going to get even more bizarrely surreal, which, considering Silvio Berlusconi's multiple elections as Prime Minister, I did not think was possible.

BTW, here is a video of Beppe Grillo's comedy routine from 1998.

Its a bit evocative of Carlin, though I think that there is a lot of Italian culture context that I am missing.



H/t Naked Capitalism for the vid.