ROME, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The populist Five Star Movement sometimes veers to the right, Free and Equal (LeU) leader Pietro Grasso told forum conducted by ANSA news agency on Thursday.
Grasso, the former Senate speaker, exited from the center-left Democratic Party of outgoing Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni to found LeU, a left-wing party, along with other defectors.
"Sometimes it seems the Five Stars move to the right," ANSA quoted Grasso as saying in answer to a question as to whether he thinks dialogue is possible with the anti-establishment Movement founded by comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009.
"We must see what policies they intend to promote, and what alliances they will try to exploit," Grasso said.
Italy's parties are in the final stages of their campaign ahead of a national election to be held March 4, with their leaders crisscrossing the country and appearing in forums and talk shows on a daily basis to present their platforms and debate against their opponents.
It is likely that the March 4 election will result in a hung parliament, because under the current electoral law no party or coalition of parties appears to have enough support to win a majority of seats.
The anti-establishment Five Star Movement is the leading party in opinion polls, although its approval ratings so far are not high enough for it to win a working majority.
Until recently it espoused anti-euro, anti-immigrant, and no-vax positions. It also said it will never enter into an alliance with other parties, which it says are all corrupt.
However, it frequently changes its stance on key policy points, and has recently been affected by a scandal in which some of its elected officials were caught lying about giving back part of their paychecks.
"When the Five Stars have a clear policy and when they begin to espouse our priorities in left-wing politics -- from labor, to housing, to university taxes -- then maybe we could think about a dialogue," Grasso concluded.
The former speaker, who was an anti-mafia magistrate before entering politics, also said he condemns violence "no matter who commits it". "Any expression of violence in connection with political ideology must be repressed at birth," Grasso said.
Italy has been marred in recent days with episodes of violence between extreme right- and left-wing groups, including beatings and stabbings.
