The Segni Pact (), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was 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 ...

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

and liberal political party in Italy. The party was founded and named after

Mario Segni Mariotto Segni (born 16 May 1939) is a retired 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 ...

, a former member of the Christian Democrats who was a prominent promoter of

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

History

The party was founded in 1993 by the Populars for Reform, a split from

Christian Democracy 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 ...

(DC) in 1992 whose basic goal was electoral reform from

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

, and splinters from the Democratic Alliance (AD). The party contested the 1994 general election with DC successor the Italian People's Party (PPI) in the Pact for Italy coalition, with the Pact leader

designated as "candidate for

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

". The Pact for Italy included in its lists Republicans ( Giorgio La Malfa, Alberto Zorzoli, Vittorio Dotti, Danilo Poggiolini and Carla Mazzuca Poggiolini), Liberals ( Valerio Zanone, Pietro Milio and Luigi Compagna),

Socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

(

Giuliano Amato Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Upon Arnaldo Forlani's death in July 2023, Amato became the country's earliest-servin ...

, Giulio Tremonti and Claudio Nicolini),

Democratic Socialists Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-manage ...

( Enrico Ferri and Gian Franco Schietroma), and several former Christian Democrats (Mario Segni himself, Diego Masi,

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the media, he played the majority of his club career wi ...

, Alberto Michelini, Enrico Indelli, Elisabetta Gardini, Michele Cossa, Livio Filippi, Vincenzo Viola, etc.). The party obtained 4.7% of the vote and 13 deputies. However soon after the election suffered several splits. The group around Michelini and Tremonti, for instance, founded the Liberal Democratic Foundation and decided to support the Berlusconi I Cabinet (Tremonti even became minister of Finances) and would later join

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

's Forza Italia (FI). In the 1995 regional elections, the Segni Pact formed an electoral list named Pact of Democrats, along with the Italian Socialists and AD. In 1995 the party and PPI joined the centre-left coalition, with the Pact contesting the 1996 general election as part of Italian Renewal, winning eight seats at 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 Bourb ...

(Masi, Giuseppe Bicocchi, Elisa Pozza Tasca,

, Antonino Mangiacavallo, Gianantonio Mazzocchin, Bonaventura Lamacchia, Paolo Manca) and one seat at the Senate of the Republic (Mazzuca Poggiolini). In 1999, after having contributed to the foundation of the Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR), the Pact attracted some former Radicals from FI ( Marco Taradash, Giuseppe Calderisi, etc.), but at the same time several members (Pozza Tasca, Poggiolini, Mazzuca Poggiolini, Filippi, Viola, etc.) left to join The Democrats. In the

1999 European Parliament election The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and ...

the party formed a

joint list The Joint List (, ''al-Qa'imah al-Mushtarakah'', , ''HaReshima HaMeshutefet'') was a political alliance of four of the Arab-Israeli, Arab-majority political parties in Israel: Hadash, Balad (political party), Balad, the United Arab List and Ta' ...

with National Alliance which received 10.3% of the vote, and Segni was re-elected MEP. The Pact decided not to present lists for the 2001 general election, but Cossa, member of the Sardinian Reformers, the regional section of the party 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 ...

, was elected deputy in a single-seat constituency of

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

for the House of Freedoms centre-right coalition. In 2003 the party was finally transformed into the Pact of Liberal Democrats (also known as the Segni-Scognamiglio Pact).

Electoral results

European Parliament

References

{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy Political parties established in 1993 1993 establishments in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Centrist parties in Italy