The anti-establishment Five-Star Movement (M5S), Italy's biggest opposition group in parliament, on Thursday made a formal petition for the impeachment of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

The M5S accused Napolitano of "attacking the Constitution," according to a statement published on the internet-based movement's website.

Napolitano allegedly failed in his role of being an independent arbiter of Italy's politics, the M5S said, favoring the established parties and avoiding his intervention over unfair decrees.

The M5S, which is led by comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo, also complained that the 88-year-old president abused his pardon power and interfered in a trial into alleged negotiations between the state and the mafia some 20 years ago.

Napolitano, a member of the former Italian Communist Party who gained a reputation for impartiality, last year became the first president in the Italian history elected for a second mandate to end a months-long postelection deadlock.

The M5S's move came a day after the ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD) and the center-right Forza Italia (FI) led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi reached a controversial agreement on a new electoral law.

On Thursday, several lawmakers of the M5S blocked the exits of the parliament's constitutional affairs committee due to approve the bill for the new election law.

The parliamentary justice committee was also forced to move after the M5S occupied the area with pushing and shouting that continued in the parliament's press room.

"Let it run its course," Napolitano was quoted as saying by Rai state television commenting on the M5S's move.

Both the PD and FI as well as other minor parties, however, firmly rejected the petition for the impeachment.

"The M5S request to impeach Napolitano was a heinous act only aimed at blowing the foundation of our democratic system," the PD's lower house whip Roberto Speranza said.

Echoing his words, Sandro Bondi, a FI's influential member and former culture minister, defined the M5S's move as "one chapter of a campaign to discredit the democratic institutions which should be rejected with firmness." Endi

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