A quote from the Italian press agency Ansa, 7 September 2007

Cult Italian comedian Beppe Grillo has put the accelerator on his bid to purge parliament of convicted MPs by forging ahead with a people’s bill that would ban lawmakers with records from holding seats. […]

The anti-establishment comic is hoping that in one day, he will obtain the 50,000 signatures necessary to lodge a petition for enacting his ‘Clean Parliament Law’. The bill consists of three articles, the first banning any parliamentary candidates who are on trial or have been convicted, the second preventing MPs from serving for more than two legislatures, and the third introducing direct election of MPs rather than leaving the choice up to parties. […]

The 59-year-old Genoese crusader called on the lawmakers, whom he referred to as “our employees”, to step down in order to give a concrete sign that “our country is changing”. […] Former foreign minister and ex-deputy Socialist Party leader Gianni De Michelis, who has been convicted twice of corruption and is now a EuroMP, said that “the people voted for me and I was re-elected. Grillo’s opinion doesn’t count”.