The Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity ( it, Partito Democratico Italiano di Unità Monarchica, PDIUM) was an Italian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

of conservative and

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalis ...

goals.

History

The PDIUM was founded in 1959 as the Italian Democratic Party (''Partito Democratico Italiano''), a merger of the People's Monarchist Party and the National Monarchist Party. It became the PDIUM in 1961. The new party, like its predecessors, was hampered by provisions in the Italian Constitution of 1946 making it all but impossible to restore the monarchy short of adopting a new constitution. The document specifically forbade a referendum on changing the republican form of government, and (until 2002) barred male members of the House of Savoy from returning to Italy. It was never able to repeat the results of its predecessors: electoral support for its monarchist cause shrank in the 1963 general election (1.8%) and in those of

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

(1.3%), due to the successes of the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...

(respectively 7.0 and 5.8%). In 1970, the party formed an alliance with the neo-fascist

Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...

(MSI) known as the National Right ''( it, Destra Nazionale)''. In 1972, PDIUM fully merged into the MSI.

Alfredo Covelli Alfredo Covelli (22 February 1914 – 25 December 1998) was an Italian monarchist politician. He was the leader of the Monarchist National Party. Covelli was born in Bonito, Campania. He graduated in literature and philosophy, in law a ...

, long-time monarchist leader, was elected president of MSI. In 1976 Covelli led a moderate split of MSI and established

National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * ...

. A small part of the party, more tied to liberal and Risorgimento inspiration, however, refused the alliance with the political heirs of fascism and gave life to the

Monarchist Alliance Monarchist Alliance (''Alleanza Monarchica'') is a minor Italian political party dedicated to the restoration of the monarchy in Italy, which was abolished in a 1946 referendum. The party seeks to increase debate amongst the public about the mon ...

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Notes

{{Authority control 1959 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 1959 Political parties disestablished in 1972 Monarchist parties in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy 1972 disestablishments in Italy