Il voto del Movimento 5 Stelle nelle aree marginali. Le elezioni del 2018 a Napol

The article analyses the social geography of voting for the Five Star Movement in the city of Naples, with particular reference to the 2018 general election. Naples, as the largest city and metropolitan area in Southern Italy – one marked by strong socio-spatial inequalities that in the last decade has been faced with a major financial crisis of local government (and welfare system) - is an important case study for the evaluation of connections between voting behaviour and urban segregation. Since the 2016 municipal elections held in Rome and Turin, voting behaviour in Italy’s urban areas has been increasingly characterized by a center-periphery cleavage. Districts with higher level of social, cultural and economic deprivation register a significantly higher percentage of votes for anti-system and populist parties, while both the traditional left- and right-wing parties (PD and Forza Italia) have been substantially confined to central, more affluent city neighbourhoods. The electoral behaviour of Naples’ sub-municipal units, based either on administrative borders (inner-city wards) or on homogenous socio-economic status (marginal areas) confirms this national dynamic. The electoral support for the Five Star Movement in Naples in 2018 was broadly correlated with socio-economic variables and was concentrated in marginal areas of the city. Furthermore, a long-term analysis of district electoral behaviour reveals significant similarities between the 5SM in 2018 and left-wing parties (notably the Italian Communist Party - Pci) in the seventies and eighties.

Keywords: Five Star Movement; Electoral Geography; Centre-periphery cleavage; Naples