Italy Court Upholds Mussolini Case Ruling

[Strengthandhonour]

Mar 18, 3:11 PM (ET)

By AIDAN LEWIS

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ROME (AP) - Alessandra Mussolini - the outspoken granddaughter of Italy's fascist dictator - cannot run in a regional election next month, an appeals court said Friday, upholding a ruling blocking her from the ballot because of alleged fraud.

Mussolini reacted by hurling her cell phone against the camper van where she had been staging a 5-day-old hunger strike - one that included a daily allowance of three cappuccinos - during her appeal, the ANSA news agency said. After the ruling, she called off the hunger strike, saying: "Now I have to work," ANSA reported.

"I do not accept the decision of the (court)," Mussolini told reporters from the door of the van. Her lawyer, Francesco Rossi, said he would launch another appeal next week, ANSA said.

Mussolini, a deputy in the European Parliament, had been blocked from running in the Lazio regional ballot because of hundreds of allegedly bogus voter signatures on the list of her party, Social Alternative. Each party has to submit at least 3,500 signatures of registered voters to run for election in Lazio.

However, her party remains on the ballot in other regions.

Mussolini has accused right-wing incumbent Francesco Storace, of the National Alliance party, of instigating the investigation that led to her exclusion.

Two years ago, Mussolini left the National Alliance, part of Italy's center-right governing coalition, to start her own movement. Mussolini, the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, complained that National Alliance leader Gianfranco Fini had renounced the party's allegiance to Italy's fascist past.

She described her exclusion from the Lazio election as a move "by the government, by the ministers by the governors of the region against a party that has positioned itself outside the system. The system has won. But we'll fight all the same."

If allowed to run in the April 3-4 ballot, Mussolini could take a crucial 2 percent or 3 percent of the right-wing vote from Storace.

Storace greeted the court's decision Friday by wishing Mussolini, "Buon appetito," private TV Sky TG24 reported.

The case has sparked investigations into the possible presence of false signatures on party lists across the country before elections in 14 of Italy's 20 regions.

In Rome, the Interior Ministry announced Thursday that it was sending inspectors to registry offices to investigate the case.

Go Ale!