The Liberal Democratic Foundation (''Fondazione Liberaldemocratica'', FLD) was a Christian-democratic and liberal Italian political party. It was founded on 28 April 1994 by splinters from

Patto Segni The Segni Pact ( it, Patto Segni), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was a Christian-democratic, centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was founded and named after Mario Segni, a forme ...

led by Giulio Tremonti (an ex- Socialist) and

Alberto Michelini Alberto Michelini (born 25 July 1941) is an Italian journalist and politician, former Deputy and Member of the European Parliament. Biography Michelini began his journalistic career in the late 1970s as a host and special correspondent for the ...

(an ex-

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 ...

).Segni sempre piu' solo: lo lasciano altri quattro
/ref> They acknowledged the defeat of their party (which won 4.7% of the votes and got elected only 13 deputies in the 1994 general election, in coalition with the Italian People's Party) and, after that they understood that

Mario Segni Mariotto Segni (born 16 May 1939) is an Italian politician and professor of civil law. He founded several parties, which focused on fighting for electoral reform through referendums. He is the son of the politician Antonio Segni, one time Presid ...

would have led it into an alliance with the left-wing Democratic Party of the Left (that happened for the 1995 regional elections through the

Pact of Democrats The Pact of Democrats ( it, Patto dei Democratici) was a short-lived electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. It was launched for the 1995 regional elections by the Segni Pact, the Italian Socialists and Democratic Alliance. After the el ...

), they decided to join forces with the centre-right Pole of Freedoms and to support Berlusconi I Cabinet (Tremonti even became Finance Minister). Some of the members of FLD took part to the foundation of the

Federalists and Liberal Democrats The Federalists and Liberal Democrats ( it, Federalisti e Liberaldemocratici, FLD) was a liberal and federalist political party in Italy, founded in 1994 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies. The bulk of FLD was renamed Liberal Fe ...

group in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

along with disgruntled members of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

on 16 December and, by the

1996 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1996. * 1995–1996 Azerbaijani parliamentary election * 1996 Beninese presidential election * 1996 Comorian presidential election * 1996 New Zealand general election * 1996 Nicaraguan general election ...

, all of them had joined Silvio Berlusconi's

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

References

Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 1994 1994 establishments in Italy {{italy-party-stub