While the DL agreed to the merger with virtually no resistance, the DS experienced a more heated final congress. During and following the congress, both Mussi and Angius announced their intention not to join the PD and founded a new party called Democratic Left SD. On 22 May the composition of the organising committee of the nascent party was announced. It featured 45 members, mainly politicians from the two aforementioned major parties and the leaders of the other six minor parties, but included also external figures such as Giuliano Amato , Marcello De Cecco , Gad Lerner , Carlo Petrini and Tullia Zevi.

Prodi announced each voter would choose between a number of lists, each of them associated with a candidate for secretary. All candidates interested in running for the PD leadership had to be associated with one of the founding parties and present at least 2, valid signatures by 30 July A total of ten candidates officially registered their candidacy: Of these, Pannella and Di Pietro were rejected because of their involvement in external parties the Radicals and Italy of Values respectively , whereas Cangini and Rutigliano did not manage to present the necessary 2, valid signatures for the 9pm deadline, and Colombo's candidacy was instead made into hiatus in order to give him 48 additional hours to integrate the required documentation; Colombo later decided to retire his candidacy citing his impossibility to fit with all the requirements.

On 21 November, the new logo was unveiled; it depicts the party acronym PD with colours reminiscent of the Italian tricolour flag green, white and red and features an olive branch , the historical symbol of The Olive Tree. In the words of Ermete Realacci , green represents the ecologist and social-liberal cultures, white is for the Catholic solidarity and red for the socialist and social-democratic traditions.

The PD included many notable candidates and new faces in its lists and Walter Veltroni , who tried to present the PD as the party of the renewal in contrast both with Silvio Berlusconi and the previous centre-left government, ran an intense and modern campaign, which led him to visit all provinces of Italy , but that was not enough.

The PD was able to absorb some votes from the parties of the far left as also IdV did , but lost voters to the Union of the Centre UdC , ending up with After the election Veltroni, who was gratified by the result, formed a shadow cabinet.

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IdV, excited by its 4. The early months after the election were a difficult time for the PD and Veltroni, whose leadership was weakened by the growing influence of internal factions, because of the popularity of Berlusconi and the dramatic rise of IdV in opinion polls. In February , after a crushing defeat in the Sardinian regional election , Walter Veltroni resigned as party secretary and was replaced by his deputy Dario Franceschini on an interim basis to guide the party toward the selection of a new stable leader.

His only opponent Arturo Parisi won a mere 92 votes.


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The European Parliament election was an important test for the PD. The national congress and the subsequent leadership primary were announced for October. By July three candidates announced their bid: In the local congresses a On 7 November, during the first meeting of the new national assembly, Bersani was declared secretary, Rosy Bindi was elected party president with Marina Sereni and Ivan Scalfarotto vice-presidents , Enrico Letta deputy secretary and Antonio Misiani treasurer.

In reaction to the election of Bersani, perceived by some moderates as an old-style social democrat, Francesco Rutelli , a long-time critic of the party's course, and other centrists and liberals within the PD left in order to form a new centrist party, named Alliance for Italy ApI. In March a big round of regional elections , involving eleven regions, took place. The talks resulted, on 13 October , in the "Pact of Democrats and Progressives" later known as Italy.

In the primary the strongest challenge to Bersani was posed by a fellow Democrat, the year-old mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi , a liberal moderniser, who had officially launched his leadership bid on 13 September in Verona , Veneto. In the meantime, in the regional election Rosario Crocetta , a Democrat, was elected President with On 25 November Bersani came ahead in the first round of the primary election with The PD secretary did particularly well in Lazio In the election the PD and its coalition fared much worse than expected and according to pollsters predictions.

The PD won just Even worse, in the Senate the PD and its allies failed to get an outright majority, due to the rise of the Five Star Movement M5S and the centre-right's victory in key regions, such as Lombardy , Veneto , Campania , Apulia , Calabria and Sicily the centre-right was awarded of the majority premium in those regions, leaving the centre-left with just a handful of elects there.

Consequently, the PD-led coalition was unable to govern alone because it lacked a majority in the Senate, which has equal power to the Chamber. As a result, Bersani, who refused any agreement with the PdL and was rejected by the M5S, failed to form a government. On 17 April, after an agreement with the centre-right parties, Bersani put forward Franco Marini as his party's candidate for President to succeed to Giorgio Napolitano. The day after Napolitano accepted to stand again for election and was re-elected President with the support of most parliamentary parties.

Letta was the first Democrat to become Prime Minister. After Bersani's resignation from party secretary on 20 April , the PD remained without a leader for two weeks. On 11 May at the national assembly of the party Guglielmo Epifani was elected secretary with Epifani's mission was to lead the party toward a national congress in October.

A few weeks after Epifani's election as secretary, the PD had a success in the local elections , winning in 69 comuni including Rome and all the other 14 provincial capitals up for election , while the PdL won 22 and the M5S 1. Epifani was however little more than a secretary pro tempore and, in fact, he frequently repeated that he was not going to run for a full term as secretary in the leadership race that would take place in late , saying that his candidacy would be a betrayal of his mandate.

As usual, the leadership race started with voting by party members in local conventions 7—17 November. Renzi came first with On 8 December Renzi, who won in all regions but was stronger in the Centre-North, trounced his opponents with Cuperlo, whose support was higher in the South, came second with On 20 January Cuperlo criticized the electoral reform proposed by Renzi in agreement with Berlusconi, but the proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the party's national board. After frequent calls by Renzi for a "new phase", on 13 February the national board decided to put an end to Letta's government and form a new one led by Renzi, as the latter had proposed.

In the European Parliament election the party obtained The party's score was virtually 15 percentage points up from five years before and the best result for an Italian party in a nationwide election since the general election , when Christian Democracy won Also, the PD was the largest national party within the Parliament in its 8th term. In January Sergio Mattarella , a veteran left-wing Christian Democrat and founding member of the PD, whose candidacy had been proposed by Renzi and unanimously endorsed by the party's delegates, was elected President of Italy during a presidential election triggered by President Giorgio Napolitano 's resignation.

Consequently, the party increased its parliamentary numbers to deputies and senators by April They were the first and most notable splinters among the ranks of the party's internal left, but several others followed either Civati who launched Possible or Fassina who launched Future to the Left and Italian Left in the following months, [83] and, by May , the PD's parliamentary numbers had gone down to deputies and senators. In the regional elections Democratic Presidents were elected or re-elected in five regions out of seven: As a result, 16 regions out of 20, including all those of central and southern Italy, were governed by the centre-left, while the opposition Lega Nord led Veneto and Lombardy, and propped up a centre-right government in Liguria.

After a huge defeat in the constitutional referendum Following these developments, Renzi resigned also from PD secretary in February in order to run in the leadership election. In local conventions Renzi came first In the open primary 30 April Renzi won In the Sicilian regional election the incumbent Democratic President Rosario Crocetta did not stand and the PD was soundly defeated.

In the run-up of the general election the PD tried to form a broad centre-left coalition, but only minor parties showed interest. In the election the PD obtained its worst result ever: Following his party's defeat, Renzi resigned from secretary [] and his deputy Martina started functioning as acting secretary. After two months of negotiations and the refusal of the PD to join forces with the M5S, [] the latter and the Lega formed a yellow-green government , under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte , a M5S-proposed independent. The PD thus returned to opposition after virtually seven years and experienced some internal turmoil as its internal factions started to re-position themselves in the new context.

Both Gentiloni and Franceschini distanced from Renzi, [] while Carlo Calenda , a former minister in Renzi's and Gentiloni's governments who had joined the party soon after the election, [] proposed to merge the PD into a larger "republican front". In July Martina was elected secretary by the party's national assembly and a new leadership election was scheduled for the first semester of The PD is a big tent centre-left party, influenced by the ideas of social democracy and Christian left.

The common roots of the founding components of the party reside in the Italian resistance movement , the writing of Italian Constitution and the Historic Compromise , all three events which saw the Italian Communist Party and Christian Democracy the two major forerunners of the Democrats of the Left and Democracy is Freedom — The Daisy , respectively cooperate.

The United States Democratic Party and American liberalism are also important sources of inspiration. To be sure, there is however a debate on whether the PD is actually a social-democratic party and to what extent. For instance, Alfred Pfaller observed that the PD "has adopted a pronounced centrist-pragmatic position, trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of middle-class and working-class voters, but shying away from a determined pursuit of redistributive goals".

The party stresses national and social cohesion, progressivism , a moderate social liberalism , green issues, progressive taxation and pro - Europeanism. In this respect, the party's precursors strongly supported the need of balancing budgets in order to comply to Maastricht criteria. Under Veltroni and, more recently, Renzi, the party took a strong stance in favour of constitutional reform and of a new electoral law, on the road toward a two-party system.

While traditionally supporting the social integration of immigrants, since the PD has adopted a more critical approach on the issue. The PD is a plural party, including several distinct ideological trends: It is not an easy task to include the trend represented by Matteo Renzi , whose supporters have been known as "Big Bangers", "Now! The nature of Renzi's progressivism is a matter of debate and has been linked both to liberalism and populism.

This means that, on one side, he will attack the privileges of trade unions, especially of the CGIL , which defends only the already protected, while, on the other, he will sharply attack the vested powers, bankers, Confindustria and a certain type of capitalism [ International affiliation was quite a controversial issue for the PD in its early days and, in fact, it was settled only in On 15 December PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani attended in Rome the founding convention of the Progressive Alliance PA , a nascent political international for parties dissatisfied with the continued admittance and inclusion of authoritarian movements into the Socialist International SI.

The PD includes several internal factions, most of which trace the previous allegiances of party members. Factions form different alliances depending on the issues and some party members have multiple factional allegiances. After the election, which saw the victory of Walter Veltroni , the party's internal composition was as follows:.

Three national lists supported the candidacy of Veltroni. Local lists in support of Veltroni got The Olivists , whose members were staunch supporters of Romano Prodi , divided in two camps.


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After the election, which saw the victory of Pier Luigi Bersani , the party's internal composition was as follows:. In the summer of Dario Franceschini , leader of Democratic Area the largest minority faction , and Piero Fassino re-approached with Pier Luigi Bersani and joined the party majority. Veltroni and D'Alema had been long-time rivals within the centre-left.

Italian Democratic Party

As of September the party's majority was composed of those who supported Bersani since the beginning divided in five main factions: Then, there were two minority coalitions: According to Corriere della Sera , in November the party was divided mainly in three ideological camps battling for its soul:. Since November similar differences surfaced in the party over Monti Cabinet: As the party performed below expectations, more Democrats started to look at Renzi, who had been defeated by Bersani in the primary election to select the centre-left's candidate for Prime Minister.

In October four candidates filed their bid to become secretary: After the election, which saw the victory of Matteo Renzi , the party's internal composition was as follows:. After leadership election, the party's main factions [] [] [] were the following:. The party runs fifteen regions out of twenty and the cities of Milan , Bologna , Florence and Bari. In the and general elections the PD obtained its best results in Tuscany Democrats are generally stronger in the North than the South , with the sole exception of Basilicata The European Parliament election gave a thumping In , as usual, the PD did better in Tuscany The general election was a major defeat for the party, which was reduced to The PD is pro-Europe and has traditionally had a liberal attitude towards migration, though as Italy has come under increasing pressure from the ongoing wave of migration to Europe, its leaders have promoted stricter immigration policies.

The Democratic Party enjoys strong support nationwide, with control of 15 of the 20 Italian regions as well as the major cities of Milan, Bologna, Florence, and Bari. However, in 's regional elections it lost Rome and Turin to the Five Star Movement, something the party acknowledged was a "painful blow". In the last two elections, it's had its best results in the centre and the north, particularly Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Umbria, Le Marche, Liguria, and Lazio.

Nationwide, the party is currently polling at about 30 percent of the vote, putting it neck-and-neck with the Five Star Movement. The last major public vote before 's election took place in June, and while Renzi declared the results a victory for the PD, the party's performance was unremarkable while the centre-right emerged as the big winners.

Five things we learned from Italy's telltale local elections. The main risk for the PD is a potential lack of allies for a coalition, which will be needed if no single party gets an outright majority. Graph showing the average trend of opinion polling between February and May The Democratic Party is marked in red. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is the party secretary, having stood for re-election after he resigned following an embarrassing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reforms. Italy's youngest ever PM, Renzi was known as 'il Rottamotore' or 'The Scrapper' for his promises to do away with the old political guard, but his dogged pursuit of reform has left him with some enemies.

Matteo Renzi - a reformer ready to seize a second chance. Current PM Paolo Gentiloni is less comfortable in the limelight, but is a trusted ally of Renzi leading a caretaker government. A one-time student radical, Gentiloni has had a long political career but didn't come to prominence until his appointment as foreign minister in Culture Minister and former Party Secretary Dario Franceschini is also an award-winning author and lawyer, and considered one of the movers and shakers of the party.

Andrea Orlando was appointed justice minister by Renzi, and at the time Italian media reports said he was chosen as part of a deal made between Renzi and Berlusconi, because he presented little threat to the media magnate, whose legal troubles were hindering his political career. The year-old, who does not have a university degree and previously served as environment minister, is still in the same position and also leads an anti-Renzi faction of the party. She started out in politics as Renzi's adviser when he was Mayor of Florence, and remains a strong ally of the former PM.

Despite that, she was in charge of constitutional reforms under Renzi and led the 'Yes Committee' to promote his proposed reforms, which were rejected by the public and led to his downfall. An introduction to the small parties on the Italian political scene. Iceland may have a population of just over , people all with equally unpronounceable names but that doesn't stop it churning out a stream of globally-renowned people. Take our quiz to discover your Icelandic spirit animal. Search Italy's news in English. News categories Milan Naples Turin More….

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Democratic Party (Italy, 1913)

The Italian political system is complicated, to say the least. In a series of articles examining each of the country's main parties, The Local Italy aims to introduce you to the key players and parties as they return from summer recess. Origins The Democratic Party PD is relatively young, founded in late as a merger of various centre-left parties, including former Communists and former Christian Democrats.

AFP Since , Italy has been led by a PD government - and the party runs the majority of the country's regional councils too. Six key things to know about the Italian political system Ideology The ideology of the Democratic Party can be hard to pin down due to the party's broad nature, but is inspired by social democracy.

AFP The PD is pro-Europe and has traditionally had a liberal attitude towards migration, though as Italy has come under increasing pressure from the ongoing wave of migration to Europe, its leaders have promoted stricter immigration policies. Support The Democratic Party enjoys strong support nationwide, with control of 15 of the 20 Italian regions as well as the major cities of Milan, Bologna, Florence, and Bari.

Five things we learned from Italy's telltale local elections The main risk for the PD is a potential lack of allies for a coalition, which will be needed if no single party gets an outright majority. Big names Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is the party secretary, having stood for re-election after he resigned following an embarrassing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reforms. Matteo Renzi - a reformer ready to seize a second chance Current PM Paolo Gentiloni is less comfortable in the limelight, but is a trusted ally of Renzi leading a caretaker government. AFP Andrea Orlando was appointed justice minister by Renzi, and at the time Italian media reports said he was chosen as part of a deal made between Renzi and Berlusconi, because he presented little threat to the media magnate, whose legal troubles were hindering his political career.

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Political cheat sheet: Understanding Italy's Democratic Party - The Local

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