After months of internal turmoil, the party's chief Luigi Di Maio, who is also the foreign minister, announced his resignation as leader on Wednesday evening while retaining his government role ahead of two crucial regional elections on Sunday where the 5Stars are expected to suffer massive defeats. [...]
In last May's European election the 5Stars won 17 percent of the vote. They've also seen serious losses in multiple regional votes across the past 18 months, plummeting to below 10 percent in the Umbria election in October. In the upcoming elections the party isn't running as part of a coalition with the PD, like in Umbria, and according to the latest available polls in both Calabria and Emilia-Romagna they are expected to score in the single digits. [...]
Whatever Di Maio's responsibility, his resignation as party leader had been expected for some time. According to members of his staff, his relationship with Grillo had deteriorated, leaving him without a strong political patron ahead of what is expected to be a major defeat in the Emilia-Romagna regional election Sunday.
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