Centre-right coalition (Italy)

Berlusconi in a electoral convention

In 1994, the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, who was previously close to the former Italian Socialist Party (PSI) secretary and former prime minister Bettino Craxi and appeared in commercials for the PSI, was studying the possibility of making a political party of his own to avoid what seemed to be the unavoidable victory of the Alliance of Progressives led by Achille Occhetto at the next general election. Three months before the election, he presented his new party, Forza Italia, in a televised announcement on 26 January 1994. Supporters believed that he wanted to avert a victory for the successors of the Italian Communist Party, while opponents believed that he was defending the ancién regime by rebranding it. Regardless of his motives, he employed his power in communication (he owned all of the three main private TV stations in Italy) and advanced communication techniques he and his allies knew very well, as his fortune was largely based on advertisement.

Berlusconi managed to ally himself with both the National Alliance and the Northern League in February 1994, without these being allied with each other. Forza Italia teamed up with the Northern League in Northern Italy, where they competed against the National Alliance, and with the National Alliance in the rest of Italy, where the Northern League was not present. This unusual coalition configuration was caused by the deep hate between the Northern League, which wanted to separate Italy and held Rome in deep contempt, and the nationalist post-fascists in Italy of the National Alliance, the legal successor of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. On one occasion, Northern League leder Umberto Bossi encouraged his supporters to go find National-Alliance supporters "house by house", suggesting a lynching that did not actually take place. In the 1994 Italian general election, Berlusconi's coalition won a decisive victory over Occhetto's, becoming the first right-wing coalition to win the general election since the Second World War. In the popular vote, Berlusconi's coalition outpolled the Alliance of Progressives by over 5.1 million votes, and the Pole of Freedoms won in the main regions of Italy.

The Pole for Freedoms was formed as a continuation of the Pole of Freedoms and Pole of Good Government coalitions, which had both supported the leadership of Berlusconi at the 1994 general election. As in 1994, there was a separation between the three parties. The Pole of Freedom was constituted by Forza Italia and Northern League, while the Pole of Good Government was formed by Forza Italia and the National Alliance. Afterwards, the Northern League left the coalition at the end of 1994, when the centre-right coalition was forced to reform itself, after the end of the short-lived first Berlusconi government. In the 1995 Italian regional elections, an organic alliance was formed. In 1996, it was officially named Pole for Freedoms and debuted in the 1996 Italian general election, where it was defeated by the centre-left coalition alliance The Olive Tree, whose leader was Romano Prodi.

The House of Freedoms was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole for Freedoms. In the run-up of the 2001 Italian general election, after a six-year spell in opposition, which Berlusconi called "the crossing of the desert", he managed to re-unite the coalition under the House of Freedoms banner. According to its leader, the alliance was a broad democratic arch, composed of the democratic right of National Alliance, the democratic centre of Forza Italia, Christian Democratic Centre and United Christian Democrats, and the democratic left represented by the Northern League, the New Italian Socialist Party, and the Italian Republican Party.[14][15]

The House of Freedoms won the 2001 general election by a landslide and consequently the second Berlusconi government was formed. In government, Forza Italia, whose strongholds included Lombardy in Northern Italy and Sicily in Southern Italy, and the Northern League, which was active only in the Centre-North, formed the "axis of the North" through the special relationship between three Lombards leaders, Berlusconi, Bossi, and Giulio Tremonti; on the other side of the coalition, the National Alliance and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, the party emerged from the merger of the Christian Democratic Centre and United Christian Democrats in late 2002, became the natural representatives of Southern interests.[16][17][18][19]

In 2003, the House of Freedoms was routed in local elections by The Olive Tree and the Northern League threatened to pull out. The 2004 European Parliament election in Italy was disappointing for Forza Italia and the coalition as a whole, despite improvements among the other parties . As a result, the Berlusconi and Forza Italia were weaker within the coalition. In the 2005 Italian regional elections, the House of Freedoms lost six of the eight regions it controlled. The defeat was particularly damaging in the South, while the only two regions that the coalition managed to keep, Lombardy and Veneto, were in the North, where the Northern League was decisive. This led to a government crisis, particularly after the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats pulled its ministers out. A few days later, the third Berlusconi government was formed with minor changes from the previous cabinet. In the 2006 Italian general election, the House of Freedoms, which had opened its ranks to a number of minor parties, lost to The Union, a larger, successor version of The Olive Tree.

Berlusconi at a rally in 2008

The People of Freedom, which was launched by Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia and National Alliance, which participated as a joint election list in the 2008 Italian general election.[20] The federation was later transformed into a party during a party congress on 27–29 March 2009. The Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, which became known as the Union of the Centre, left the centre-right coalition and made an alliance with The Rose for Italy, the Populars' Coordination, and other centrist parties. They later joined the New Pole for Italy in 2010 and With Monti for Italy in 2012.

The People of Freedom led the fourth Berlusconi government from 2008 to 2011 in coalition with the Northern League. In 2010, the Future and Freedom movement, led by the former National Alliance leader Gianfranco Fini, split from the coalition. They joined the Union of the Centre and other parties to form the New Pole for Italy but kept supporting the government. After Berlusconi's resignation during the European debt crisis, the People of Freedom supported Mario Monti's technocratic government in 2011–2012. After the 2013 Italian general election, it became part of Enrico Letta's government of grand coalition with the Democratic Party, Civic Choice, and the Union of the Centre. Angelino Alfano, then party's secretary, functioned as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and the country's Minister of the Interior.

In June 2013, Berlusconi announced Forza Italia's revival and the PdL's transformation into a centre-right coalition.[21][22] On 16 November 2013, the People of Freedom's national council voted to dissolve itself and start a new Forza Italia; the assembly was deserted by a group of dissidents, led by Alfano, who had launched the alternative New Centre-Right party the day before.[23]

After the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum, the Union of the Centre left the centre-left coalition and approached the centre-right coalition. In 2017, Civic Choice also joined the centre-right coalition. They ran with the centre-right coalition in the 2017 Sicilian regional election.

Meloni, Salvini and Berlusconi after the 2018 general election results

Following the 2018 Italian general election, the centre-right coalition, led by Matteo Salvini's League, emerged with a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, while the anti-establishment Five Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio became the party with the largest number of votes. Matteo Salvini of the rebranded and renamed League was the largest party within the coalition and thus was their prime ministerial candidate. The centre-left coalition, led by former prime minister Matteo Renzi came third.[24][25] As no political group or party won an outright majority, it resulted in a hung parliament.[26]

After three months of negotiation, the 2018 Italian government formation concluded when a coalition government, which became known as the Government of Change, was finally formed on 1 June between Di Maio's party and the League, whose leaders both became deputy prime ministers in a government led by the Five Star Movement-linked independent politician Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister of Italy. This coalition, which caused dissent within the centre-right coalition, lasted until September 2019, and was succeeded by the second Conte government in a centre-left direction.

Following the 2021 Italian government crisis, the previous government was replaced by a national unity government led by Mario Draghi in February 2021. This government included the League and Forza Italia along with the Five Star Movement, the Democratic Party, Article One, and Italia Viva; Brothers of Italy, the National Alliance successor party led by Giorgia Meloni, remained at the opposition. Draghi’s government collapsed during the 2022 Italian government crisis in July of that year, and a snap election ensued in September. In the 2022 Italian general election, the centre-right obtained a majority in both houses, with Brothers of Italy as the largest party of the coalition. As a result, Meloni became the new prime minister on 22 October 2022.

In the 1994 Italian general election, the centre-right coalition ran under the name of Pole of Freedoms in Northern Italy, including the Northern League and leaving out National Alliance, which instead ran alone. In Central Italy and Southern Italy, where the Northern League was not present, the coalition ran under the name of Pole of Good Government, which also included National Alliance.

The Pole of Freedoms was composed of four parties:

The Pole of Good Government was instead composed of six parties:

In the 1996 Italian general election, the Pole for Freedoms was composed of the following parties:

The coalition made an agreement of desistance with the Pannella–Sgarbi List in some constituencies.

In the 2001 Italian general election, the House of Freedoms was composed of seven parties:

The coalition presented a candidate a member of the Sardinian Reformers in Sardinia. It also made an agreement of desistance with the Tricolour Flame in one constituency in Sicily.

In the 2006 Italian general election, the House of Freedoms was composed of the following parties:

The House of Freedoms was also supported by Unitalia, by Italy Again and by the National Democratic Party.

Berlusconi launched The People of Freedom in late 2007; this was joined by FI, AN and minor parties,[29] and continued its alliance with the LN.[30]

In the 2008 Italian general election, the coalition was composed of three parties:

In the 2013 Italian general election, the coalition was composed of the following parties:[36]

In the 2018 Italian general election, the coalition was composed of five parties:

In the 2022 Italian general election, the coalition was composed of four parties:[57]

The coalition was also supported by Social Democratic Rebirth.