The Southern Democratic Party ( it, Partito Democratico Meridionale, PDM) was a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to th ...

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

based in Calabria. The Southern Democratic Party was founded in 2006, as a split from the regional organisation of

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 withi ...

. The PDM's leader was

Agazio Loiero Agazio Loiero (born 14 January 1940) is an Italian politician, former President of Calabria and minister in the D'Alema II Cabinet and the Amato II Cabinet. Biography Graduated in Letters and Philosophy, Loiero has worked as a columnist for ...

, President of Calabria Region since 2005. The Southern Democrats were strong supporters of constructing the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

in order to unite the Italian centre-left, despite PDM's members being mostly moderate conservatives. In the 2006 general election, thanks to a political pact with the Consumers' List, PDM scored 5.3% and elected a Senator, Pietro Fuda (former President of

Province of Reggio Calabria The Province of Reggio Calabria ( it, Provincia di Reggio Calabria) was a province in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The capita ...

for

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 ...

). On 19 March 2007, Eva Catizone, formerly of the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892 ...

and former mayor of

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

for 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 t ...

, was elected leader of the party. In the subsequent municipal elections, PDM scored 13.7% in

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its ...

, 6.5% in

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages unti ...

and 4.2% in

.Ministry of the Interior - 2006 municipal elections, Cosenza
/ref> The PDM joined the

at its founding congress on 14 October 2007.

References

External links

Southern Democratic Group in Calabria's Regional Council
{{Historical Italian political parties Political parties in Calabria 2006 establishments in Italy 2007 disestablishments in Italy Christian democratic parties in Italy Catholic political parties Political parties established in 2006 Political parties disestablished in 2007