Five Star Movement refuses to take seats on first day of Italian parliament Five Star Movement lawmakers sit at the back as the Italian parliament reconvenes. Photograph: Giuseppe Lami/EPA As a self-denying Pope Francis settled in to the Vatican on Friday, 163 novice politicians - also inspired by the saint's frugality and ascetism - arrived for the first day of the new Italian parliament. Not since the 1940s, when ex-Communist partisans arrived in force, has the Italian legislature faced such a challenge to its extravagant ways, traditions, conventions and perhaps even its very existence. The representatives of the Five Star Movement (M5S) - founded on St Francis's feast day in 2009 specifically to draw attention to its respect for the great Umbrian mystic's values - do not really believe in parliamentary democracy in its present form. But on their first day as lawmakers it was their adversaries who caused deadlock. After a first round of voting, no progress was made towards electing speakers for either house because the members of the two main parties of left and right cast blank votes in protest at M5S's refusal to agree to cross-party deals. The movement, founded by the comedian Beppe Grillo and his social media guru, Gianroberto Casaleggio, won about a quarter of the votes in last month's election and holds the balance of power. But since the M5S wants to do away with Italy's traditionally spendthrift and corrupt parties, it refuses to go into government with either left or right. The resulting gridlock has raised fears for the country's future stability, and that of the eurozone. The only apparent ways forward are either a return to the polls or a non-party government like the one under Mario Monti that the election was intended to replace. The so-called grillini, or little crickets (Grillo's name means cricket), unexpectedly respected the rule that male Italian lawmakers must wear ties. But that was as much compromise as they were prepared to make. Just as Pope Francis travelled to work by bus in Buenos Aires, so the M5S arrived by public transport and, in one case, on a bicycle. Another came toting a toddler for whom a creche had to be hastily arranged. During the lunch break, a group of the movement's lawmakers tried to get in to the canteen used by parliamentary employees, but were turned back at the door. An M5S deputy - or rather, "citizen spokesperson" (grillini disown the titles of deputy and senator) - did manage to get in to the self-service restaurant in the basement, where he paid €6 for his lunch, before posting the bill on the internet. Earlier, the M5S's representatives had been first in to the august Chamber of Deputies, all red plush and gilt, but did not occupy a wedge of seats on the right or left. Instead, they ranged themselves around the back of the amphitheatre-like chamber. "Neither right nor left, but above (and beyond)," wrote one of their number, Tiziana Ciprini, on her Facebook page, reflecting Grillo's view that the M5S cannot be fitted into conventional political categories. She went on to explain that the choice of seating was symbolic in another way: it would allow the movement's representatives, seated above and behind the members of the other parties, to breathe down their necks. Grillo vowed to open up parliament like a tin of tuna and one of his lawmakers posted a photo of a can opener perched symbolically on a parliamentary bench. Already, as part of its campaign for greater transparency, the M5S has demanded that any talks its representatives have with delegates of other parties must be relayed to the internet via a live stream. The movement's other big concern is the environment. Casaleggio said in a recently published book-length interview that one reason it had been decided to launch the party on St Francis's feast day was that it shared his respect for animals and the environment. The grillini have refused the mineral water that is available everywhere in parliament. Their leader in the chamber found a drinking fountain issuing what the M5S terms "public water," but was then dismayed to see it had to be drunk with a plastic cup. She said she would bring her own glass to parliament on Saturday.