POLITICIAN DRINKS OWN URINE IN PROTEST

ROME: Maverick Italian politician Marco Pannella drank his own urine while
on a hunger strike against what he claims are anomalies in the Italian
electoral system, party officials said on Saturday.

The 72-year-old founder and president of the small Radical Party, who is
also a member of the European parliament, has declared six members of the
Italian lower house represent "phantom electorates" due to anomalies in the
system.

Pannella, who is in the sixth day of a hunger strike, is no stranger to
controversy following his campaigns to decriminalise cannabis and to
abolish the Vatican's status as a separate country.

To show his determination, he drank a glass of his own urine late on Friday
during a party meeting here, officials said.

He also accepted a glass of sugared water on Saturday, but doctors said his
life could be in danger.

The Italian electoral system allows candidates to stand for several seats
in the lower house at the same time with the expectation that if a
candidate wins more than one seat, he will nominate a substitute for the other.

However, in May last year legislative election, several deputies were
elected to several seats at the same time, without having nominated a
substitute.