In view of the European elections, A new case breaks out in the 5 Star Movement linked to some excellent exclusions from the race towards candidacy. This time the story features the former Apulian magistrate Francesco Mandoi and the Campania lawyer Angelo Melone, both aspiring candidates for the Grillina parliamentary elections for the Southern constituency and ‘cut’ from the list of names then submitted to the vote of the members on Thursday 18 April.
“The leaders of the 5 Star Movement they asked me to withdraw from the race, on the very day my name would have been put to the vote on the M5S portal for the MEPs…“, Melone, appointed honorary consul of the Congo in Italy in 2021, tells Adnkronos. The ‘dream’, however, did not last very long for the Neapolitan jurist and diplomat. Melone had presented his self-nomination on the website of the Movement for the composition of the lists constituencies in the next European elections. At a certain point, however, the ‘hand’ of the five-star leaders would have intervened to put the candidate out of action, Melone reports: “They asked me, without any reason, to withdraw my candidacy. In fact, they had this message delivered by a parliamentarian.”
The lawyer he says he received further requests from members of the secretariat of the president of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte: “I received messages from one of his very close collaborators, who urged me to send the email containing the renunciation of the self-nomination”. Melone was not given any explanation: “Moreover, by statute they have the possibility of arbitrarily excluding any person.”
Melon’s it would not be an isolated case. In fact, the lawyer reveals: “They told me the same fate it would have fallen to the former Salento magistrate Francesco Mandoi, former deputy prosecutor at the National Anti-Mafia Directorate. Mandoi ran as a single-member candidate in 2022 in the Bari constituency and was not elected. Then he expressed his willingness to run for the European Parliament, through the parliamentary system. I know that Conte himself called him to ask him to step aside…”. Adnkronos contacted Mandoi for comment, but the person concerned preferred not to make any statement. Mandoi, among other things, was interviewed by the Rai Tre Report program in last Sunday’s episode dedicated to the agreement on migrants between Italy and Albania as a “super consultant” appointed by the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama “for the fight against corruption” .
When asked about the reasons for the exclusion, Melone replies that “there are no official explanations” but according to him behind the preventive rejection there would be “issues of territorial political balance to be maintained”. Adnkronos asked the leaders of the 5 Star Movement for clarification on the matter. Maximum confidentiality currently filters through Campo Marzio “also to protect and guarantee the rights of the interested parties”.
As far as we know, these would be “decisions adopted in line with the statutory provisions which allow, until the list formation process is completed, to evaluate whether or not to exclude candidates”. Sources close to the five-star leaders also let it be known that reports have been received regarding the two candidates, which require an in-depth analysis of their position with regards to compatibility with the statute and the Charter of Values of the Movement. And this would have suggested the exercise of the ‘prerogative’: both off the lists. (Of Antonio Atte)
