The Christian Popular Union (, UPC) is a

Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

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

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History

The UPC was launched in August 2009 by

Antonio Satta Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

, a former

Christian Democrat Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian ethics#Politics, Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo ...

who had been the regional leader of the

Union of Democrats for Europe The Union of Democrats for Europe (, 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 in Berlusconi I Cabinet (1994–19 ...

(UDEUR) and, later, of the Sardinian Autonomist Populars. The party was based and had its best electoral results in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, but had a structure countrywide, consisting primarily of former members of the UDEUR, notably including Gianfranco Saraca, Luca Bagliani, Danilo Bertoli, Sergio Deorsola, and

Antonio Potenza Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...

(leader of

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

United Populars The United Populars (''Popolari Uniti'') is a regional centrism, Centrist and christian democracy, Christian-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party based in Basilicata, Italy. The party was founded in February 2008 by spl ...

). In the 2010 Sardinian provincial elections the party did especially well in northern Sardinia: 10.7% in

Sassari Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

and 6.2% in Olbia-Tempio. Massimo Mulas, a regional councillor elected with the

Union of Sardinians The Union of Sardinians – Nationalist Project (''Unione dei Sardi – Progetto Nazionalitario'', UdS–PN), previously known as Sardinian Democratic Union (''Unione Democratica Sarda'', UDS) was a regionalist, Sardinian nationalist and Christi ...

in the 2009 regional election, joined the party during the legislature. In June 2012, through Mulas, the UPC joined the newly formed parliamentary group Sardinia Tomorrow, along with other centrist councillors. In the 2014 regional election the party won 1.7% of the vote and one regional councillor, Gaetano Ledda. In 2015 the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

reassessed the composition of the Regional Council and two more UPC members, Antonio Gaia and Piefranco Zanchetta, gained seats. A month before, however, Ledda had left the party and joined The Base Sardinia. In the run-up of the 2018 general election the UPC joined the

Popular Civic List The Popular Civic List (, CP) was a centrist coalition of political parties in Italy. Its leader is Beatrice Lorenzin, minister of Health from 2013 to 2018 and member of Popular Alternative. History CP participated in the 2018 general electio ...

(CP), a centrist electoral list within the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition () is a political alliance 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. The centre-left coalition has ruled the c ...

, comprising mainly

Popular Alternative Popular Alternative (, AP) is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy that was founded on 18 March 2017 after the dissolution of New Centre-Right (NCD), one of the two parties that emerged at the break-up of The People of Freedom (PdL, t ...

(AP),

Italy of Values Italy of Values (, 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 party in 2014. IdV has ai ...

(IdV), the

Centrists for Europe Centrists for Europe (; CpE) is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. The party was launched, as Centrists for Italy (; CpI), by splinters from the Union of the Centre in December 2016 and officially founded, with its final name, in F ...

(CpE),

Solidary Democracy Solidary Democracy (, DemoS) is a Christian-leftist political party in Italy. The party's early leader, Lorenzo Dellai has described it as a "Christian-social" party. DemoS is led by Paolo Ciani. Several party members, including Ciani, hail ...

(DemoS), the

Union for Trentino Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

(UpT) and Italy Is Popular (IP). CP obtained a mere 0.5% and no seats. In the 2019 regional election the party won 1.5% of the vote and no seats in a joint list with the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

. In the 2024 regional election the party was a junior partner of a joint list formed primarily by

Action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

and

More Europe More Europe ( or ''+Europa''; +E or +Eu) is a liberal and pro-European political party in Italy, part of the centre-left coalition and member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. History Foundation More Europe was laun ...

Leadership

*Secretary:

(2009–2020 ca.) *President: Gianfranco Saraca (2009–2014) *Regional secretary (Sardinia): Enrico Piras (2009–2014),

(2014–2020 ca.)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
2009 establishments in Italy Christian democratic parties in Italy Political parties established in 2009 Political parties in Sardinia Catholic political parties