Italy’s populist rivalry goes to web vote on migrant ship

Bloomberg

Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement is putting its rivalry-ridden ruling coalition to a test — with an online vote.
At stake in Monday’s web poll is whether Five Star should support immunity from prosecution for the anti-immigrant League party leader Matteo Salvini, who faces possible charges for refusing to let a migrant ship dock last summer in his role as interior minister in the coalition government.
Five Star said on its blog that it would put the question to a vote among registered members on its online, direct-democracy site, Rousseau.
“I’m very unperturbed,” Salvini said of the potential case according to the Ansa newswire. “The Italians know that I have acted for their own good and their safety.” Legislators are weighing whether Salvini’s parliamentary immunity should be lifted, allowing him to stand trial on a kidnapping charge from the episode involving the Coast Guard ship Diciotti. Salvini denies any wrongdoing.