They held out the chair, but Beppe is refusing to take it.  Italian insurgent politician Beppe Grillo is snubbing attempts by the center-left to lure his Five-Star Movement (M5S) into a governing coalition.  It signals a period of looming gridlock that will almost certainly force new elections.

M5S shocked Europe by finishing a close third-place in last weekend’s parliamentary elections, buoyed by its anti-austerity, euro-skeptic, and pro-environmental message.  The previous government’s painful cost cutting is widely seen as dictated by Germany, the most-powerful voice in the European Union.

Pier Luigi Bersani’s center-left coalition won a clear majority in the lower house but fell short in the senate, and thus attempted to make the now-dead deal with Grillo. 

But Beppe replied by calling the center-left leader “A stalker”.

"It's been days that (Bersani) has been bothering the M5S with indecent proposals,” Beppe wrote in his blog, suggesting that the center-left leader should resign.

New elections are expected before year’s end if not sooner.