[1] The election was de facto a plebiscite in which party's members were asked to approve or reject the candidacy of former prime minister Giuseppe Conte as new leader.

[4] In February 2021, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was forced to resign, after losing the absolute majority in the Senate of the Republic.

[5][6] On 28 February 2021, after a few days from the end of his premiership, Conte joined the Five Star Movement (M5S), the party which proposed his candidacy as Prime Minister in June 2018.

In June, Grillo accused Conte of aiming at creating a one-man party and of being "without a political vision".

[11] In July 2021, Conte and Grillo found a compromise on the new statute and leadership elections were called on 6 August.