The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an
alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
of
political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when
The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...
. The centre-left coalition has ruled the country for more than 15 years between 1996 and 2022.
In the
1996 general election The Olive Tree consisted of the majority of both the left-wing
Alliance of Progressives
The Alliance of Progressives ( it, Alleanza dei Progressisti) was a left-wing political alliance of parties in Italy formed in 1994, with relevant predecessors at local level in 1993. The leader of the alliance was Achille Occhetto. The allianc ...
and the centrist
Pact for Italy
The Pact for Italy ( it, Patto per l'Italia) was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994.
History
The alliance was composed of the Italian People's Party (PPI), the main successo ...
, the two losing coalitions in the
1994 general election, the first under a system based primarily on
first-past-the-post voting
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
. In 2005
The Union was founded as a wider coalition to contest the
2006 general election, which later collapsed during the
2008 political crisis, with the fall of the
Prodi II Cabinet
The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislature ...
.
In recent history, the centre-left coalition has been built around the
Democratic Party (PD), which was established in 2007 from a merger of
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy.
The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...
and
Democracy is Freedom, the main parties affiliated to both The Olive Tree and The Union. The centre-left coalition was part of Italian governments from November 2011 to June 2018, when a coalition government between the
Five Star Movement (M5S) and the
League was formed. However, in September 2019, the centre-left returned to power in coalition with the M5S, with centre-left parties participating in the
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...
of
Mario Draghi
Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...
as of February 2021 until its collapse in July 2022.
History
Road to The Olive Tree
Following the
1994 general election, which was won by the
centre-right coalition of
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...
, the left-wing
Alliance of Progressives
The Alliance of Progressives ( it, Alleanza dei Progressisti) was a left-wing political alliance of parties in Italy formed in 1994, with relevant predecessors at local level in 1993. The leader of the alliance was Achille Occhetto. The allianc ...
and the centrist
Pact for Italy
The Pact for Italy ( it, Patto per l'Italia) was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994.
History
The alliance was composed of the Italian People's Party (PPI), the main successo ...
started a parliamentary cooperation, which brought in March 1995 to the foundation of
The Olive Tree.
The historical leader and ideologue of these coalitions was
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...
, Professor of Economics and former
leftist Christian Democrat
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
, who invented the name and the symbol of The Olive Tree with
Arturo Parisi
Arturo Parisi (born 13 September 1940) is an Italian politician, leader of the Ulivist faction of the Democratic Party and a four-time member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He was also minister of defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister ...
in 1995.
In 1995 the
Lega Nord exited the centre-right
Pole of Freedoms
The Pole of Freedoms ( it, Polo delle Libertà) was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, launched at the 1994 general election by Silvio Berlusconi. Its counterpart in central and southern Italy was the Pole of Good Govern ...
and supported
Lamberto Dini
Lamberto Dini CGMG (born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996, and Forei ...
's
technocratic government, together with the Pact for Italy and the Alliance of Progressives.
On 21 April 1996, The Olive Tree won
1996 general election with the
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) as an external ally, making
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...
the
Prime Minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...
.
The Olive Tree's largest partner was the
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, t ...
(PDS), which contained the bulk of the former
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...
. The PDS supplied 16 ministers and 10 junior ministers–the first time that (former) Communists had taken part in government since 1947. One of their leaders,
Walter Veltroni
Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...
, who ran in ticket with Prodi in a long electoral campaign, was Deputy Prime Minister. On 9 October 1998, the
Prodi I Cabinet
The first Prodi government was the 53rd government of Italy. It held office from 18 May 1996 until 21 October 1998.
Formation
On 21 April 1996, the Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), ...
fell when PRC left the alliance. Since 21 October 1998 The Olive Tree was the core of the governments led by
Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...
and by
Giuliano Amato. When D'Alema became Prime Minister, it was the first time ever in both Italy and Western Europe that an heir of the
communist tradition came to lead a government. On 13 May 2001, led by
Francesco Rutelli
Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016.
He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...
, who ran in ticket with
Piero Fassino, the coalition lost the general elections against
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...
and his
House of Freedoms centre-right coalition.
The Union
The Union was the direct heir of
The Olive Tree. However, The Union was an heterogenous alliance that also included parties of the
radical left, which were not part of The Olive Tree. Romano Prodi won the
April 2006 general election by a very narrow margin due to the new electoral law enacted by
Roberto Calderoli, although Silvio Berlusconi first refused to acknowledge defeat. Prodi's coalition proved to be extremely frail, as the two-vote margin in the Senate allowed almost any party in the coalition to veto legislation and political views inside the coalition spanned from far-left Communist parties to Christian Democrats.
The centre-left majority coalition, on 7 May 2006, officially endorsed
Giorgio Napolitano as its candidate in the
presidential election that began on 8 May. The
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
endorsed him as President through its official newspaper, ''
L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not ...
'', just after The Union named him as its candidate, as did
Marco Follini, former secretary of the
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, a member party of the House of Freedoms. Napolitano was elected on 10 May, in the fourth round of voting — the first of those requiring only an absolute majority, unlike the first three which required two-thirds of the votes — with 543 votes (out of a possible 1009). At the age of 80, he became the first former Communist to become President of Italy
Less than a year after he had won the elections, on 21 February 2007, Prodi tendered his resignation to President Napolitano after the government was defeated in the Senate by 2 ballots in a vote on foreign policy. On 24 February, President Napolitano invited Prodi to return to office and face a vote of confidence. Major causes of friction inside the coalition were, the 2006
pardon Act (criticised by the right and by the
Italy of Values
Italy of Values ( it, Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former '' Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the p ...
party), a draft bill to establish
civil union
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
s (vetoed by Christian Democrats), Italy's continued
involvement in Afghanistan (strongly opposed by left-wing parties), and finally the much publicised house-arrest of
Clemente Mastella
Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947) is an Italian politician who has served as the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He is the leader of Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist Italian party. He was Minister of Labour i ...
's wife (then a prominent politician at the regional level) over a corruption scandal. Mastella's party,
UDEUR
The Union of Democrats for Europe ( it, Unione Democratici per l'Europa, UDEUR), also known as UDEUR Populars (''Popolari UDEUR''), was a minor centrist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy.
Led by Clemente Mastella, minister of Labour ...
, held just enough seats in the Senate that his eventual decision to withdraw its support for the government meant the end of the legislature on 6 February 2008. Mastella, who also resigned from his office as Minister of Justice, cited the lack of personal support from his coalition partners' as one of the reasons behind his decision, together with a proposed reform of the electoral system which would have made it difficult for small parties like his own to gain seats in the Italian Parliament.
The foundation of the Democratic Party
The Democratic Party was founded on 14 October 2007 as a merger of various
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
parties which had been part of The Union in the 2006 general election. At foundation the majority of the PD was formed by the
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy.
The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...
(heirs of the
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...
) and the largely Catholic-inspired
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ( it, Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a centrist political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within ...
.
Within the party, an important role is thus played by
Christian leftists, who are direct heirs of the former
Christian Democracy's left.
After the
resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
in November 2011, the PD gave external support to
Mario Monti's
technocratic government.
Following the
2013 general election and the
2014 European Parliament election
The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014.
It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...
, the PD was the largest party in the
Chamber of Deputies, the
Senate and the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, respectively. Since April 2013
Enrico Letta
Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014, leading a grand coalition of centre-left and centre-right parties. Since March 2021, Letta has been secretary ...
, a Democrat, was Prime Minister, at the head of a
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
sustained by a
grand coalition including
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...
(later replaced by the
New Centre-Right),
Civic Choice and the
Union of the Centre (later replaced by the
Populars for Italy
Populars for Italy ( it, Popolari per l'Italia, PpI) is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy led by Mario Mauro, minister of Defence in Letta Cabinet and, previously, long-serving MEP for Forza Italia.
History
The party was launched ...
). Following his election as party leader, in February 2014
Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...
called for "a new phase" and, consequently, the party's national board voted to ask Letta to resign.
Subsequently, Renzi was sworn in as Prime Minister at the head of the same coalition.
As of 2015, other than the national government, Democrats head fifteen
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
governments out of twenty and function as coalition partner in
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
it, Trentino (man) it, Trentina (woman) or it, Altoatesino (man) it, Altoatesina (woman) or it, Sudtirolesegerman: Südtiroler (man)german: Südtirolerin (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title = Official ...
.
The
2016 constitutional referendum was supported by the majority of the centre-left coalition. Inside the centre-left coalition only
UdC,
FdV,
ALPE,
UVP,
SSk and
UPC campaigned for the "No" vote. The referendum was lost with 41% of "Yes" against 59% of "No" votes. After the referendum, Renzi tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and
Paolo Gentiloni
Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...
became his successor.
In the
2018 general election the centre-left, with Renzi as leader, obtained its worst result ever: 22.9% of the vote, well behind the centre-right coalition and the M5S. Following the defeat, Renzi resigned from secretary of the PD, and his deputy
Maurizio Martina functioning afterwards as acting secretary.
In 2019, the PD formed a
coalition with the
Five Star Movement (M5S) and
Free and Equal (LeU), which was supported by the members of the centre-left coalition in 2018. Following the
2021 Italian government crisis, the government was replaced by the
Draghi Cabinet
The Draghi government was the 67th government of the Italian Republic, led by former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi. It was in office between 13 February 2021 and 22 October 2022.
The Draghi government was formed followin ...
in February 2021, a
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...
including the PD, MS5, PD splinters
Article One and
Italia Viva
Italia Viva (, IV) is a liberal political party in Italy founded in September 2019. The party is led by Matteo Renzi, a former Prime Minister of Italy and former secretary of the Democratic Party (PD).
History Background
Matteo Renzi sta ...
, and centre-right coalition parties the
League and
Forza Italia. The Draghi government collapsed during the
2022 Italian government crisis on 14–21 July 2022, leading to Draghi's resignation as prime minister and a snap election being called.
For the
2022 general election
The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world.
* 2022 United Nations Security Council election
* 2022 national electoral calendar
* 2022 local ...
, the coalition centres around the PD’s
Democratic and Progressive Italy list, allied with the
Civic Commitment,
Greens and Left Alliance
The Greens and Left Alliance ( it, Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, AVS), is a left-wing political alliance active in Italy, which was launched on 2 July 2022 as a federation of two political parties, Italian Left (SI) and Green Europe (EV).
The AVS is ...
and
More Europe electoral lists.
The Olive Tree (1995–2005)
1996–1998
In the
1996 general election and during the
Prodi I Cabinet
The first Prodi government was the 53rd government of Italy. It held office from 18 May 1996 until 21 October 1998.
Formation
On 21 April 1996, the Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), ...
the coalition was composed of the following parties:
The coalition had the following regional partners:
The Olive Tree presented candidates of
The Network and the
Ladin Autonomist Union in some
first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
constituencies. The coalition also made an agreement of desistance with the
Communist Refoundation Party in some first-past-the-post constituencies,
which ran under the banner of the
Progressives.
1998–2001
In 1998 the
Communist Refoundation Party brought down the
Prodi II Cabinet
The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislature ...
.
with a splinter faction forming the
Party of Italian Communists
The Party of Italian Communists ( it, Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, PdCI) was a communist party in Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located i ...
.
In 1998–2001, during the two governments led by
Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...
(
I Cabinet and
II Cabinet, 1998–2000) and the one led by
Giuliano Amato (
Amato II Cabinet, 2000–2001), the coalition was composed of eight parties:
2001 general election
In the
2001 general election the coalition, led by
Francesco Rutelli
Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016.
He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...
, was composed of nine parties:
The coalition also had the following regional partners:
The Olive Tree also made an agreement of desistance with the
Communist Refoundation Party in the
first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
constituencies.
2004 EP election
In the
2004 European Parliament election
The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...
, the United in the Olive Tree joint list, was composed of four parties:
The list was connected with the following regional partners:
The Union (2005–2008)
2006 general election
In the
2006 general election the coalition was composed of thirteen parties:
The coalition had the following regional partners:
The coalition was supported by the
Autonomists for Europe
Autonomists for Europe ( it, Autonomisti per l'Europa, ApE) was a minor regionalist, Christian-democratic and liberal Italian political party. Founded in 2000 by splinters of Northern League as a potentially dangerous competitor, it became a r ...
, Radicals of the Left and the New Action Party.
PD-led coalitions (2008–present)
2008 general election
In the
2008 general election the coalition, led by
Walter Veltroni
Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...
, was composed of three parties:
The coalition also had the following regional partners:
2013 general election
In the
2013 general election, the coalition ran as
Italy. Common Good under the leadership of
Pier Luigi Bersani, and was composed of the following parties:
The coalition had the following regional partners:
2018 general election
In the
2018 general election the coalition was composed of four electoral lists:
The coalition also had the following regional partners:
The centre-left coalition was also supported by the
Ladin Autonomist Union and the
Slovene Union
The Slovene Union ( sl, Slovenska skupnost, SSk, it, Unione Slovena, US) is a political party in Italy representing the Slovene minority in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Its Slovenian language name means literally "Slovene Community", but th ...
.
2022 general election
For the upcoming
2022 general election
The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world.
* 2022 United Nations Security Council election
* 2022 national electoral calendar
* 2022 local ...
four electoral lists have so far been formed:
The coalition contested the election in some regions under the following banners:
There were regional agreements between the centre-left coalition and
Action – Italia Viva in Trentino for the Senate election and in Aosta Valley for both Chamber and Senate elections. The Italian Left ran instead with the
Five Star Movement and Democratic Area in Aosta Valley.
Popular support
Electoral results
Italian Parliament
Regional Councils
See also
*
Centre-right coalition (Italy)
The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party. Despite ...
*
Alliance of Progressives
The Alliance of Progressives ( it, Alleanza dei Progressisti) was a left-wing political alliance of parties in Italy formed in 1994, with relevant predecessors at local level in 1993. The leader of the alliance was Achille Occhetto. The allianc ...
*
Pact for Italy
The Pact for Italy ( it, Patto per l'Italia) was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994.
History
The alliance was composed of the Italian People's Party (PPI), the main successo ...
*
The Olive Tree
*
The Union
*
Italy. Common Good
References
{{Clear
Political party alliances in Italy