Italian People's Party (1994)

The Italian People's Party (Italian: Partito Popolare Italiano, PPI) was a Christian-democratic,[6][7] centrist[8] and Christian-leftist[9] political party in Italy. The party was a member of the European People's Party (EPP).[10]

For the party with the same name which was active from 1919 to 1926, see Italian People's Party (1919).
Italian People's Party
Partito Popolare Italiano
AbbreviationPPI
LeadersMino Martinazzoli
Rocco Buttiglione
Gerardo Bianco
Franco Marini
Pierluigi Castagnetti
Founded18 January 1994
Dissolved6 December 2002
Preceded byChristian Democracy
Merged intoThe Daisy
Succeeded byThe Populars
NewspaperIl Popolo
Youth wingYoung Populars
IdeologyChristian democracy[1]
Christian left[2]
Political positionCentre[3] to centre-left[4][5]
National affiliationPact for Italy (1994)
The Olive Tree (1995–2002)
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
International affiliationChristian Democrat International
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
Colors  White

The PPI was the formal successor of the Christian Democracy (DC),[11] but was soon deprived of its conservative elements, which successively formed the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD) in 1994 and the United Christian Democrats (CDU) in 1995. The PPI was finally merged into Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) in 2002, and DL was later merged with the Democrats of the Left (DS) and minor centre-left parties into Democratic Party (PD) in 2007.

History

The party emerged in January 1994 as the successor to the Christian Democracy (DC), Italy's dominant party since World War II, following the final national council of the DC and the split of a right-wing faction led by Pier Ferdinando Casini, which had formed the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD).[12][13] The first secretary of the PPI was Mino Martinazzoli. He led the party to a severe defeat (11.1% of the vote) in the 1994 general election, fought in coalition with the Segni Pact, under the Pact for Italy banner. It was one of the worst defeats ever suffered by a Western European governing party.

After the election, Martinazzoli was replaced as secretary by conservative philosopher Rocco Buttiglione. In 1995, when his proposal to join the centre-right Pole of Freedoms coalition (composed of Forza Italia, National Alliance and the CCD) was rejected by the party's national council, Buttiglione, along with Roberto Formigoni, Gianfranco Rotondi and other bigwigs, formed the United Christian Democrats (CDU). This essentially left the PPI as the left wing of the former DC.[9][14] As such, the PPI joined the centre-left coalition.[15]

For the 1996 general election the PPI formed the Populars for Prodi list with the Democratic Union (UD), the Italian Republican Party (PRI) and the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP). The list was part of The Olive Tree, the formal alliance of the centre-left coalition, and won 6.8% of the vote. The PPI was represented in Romano Prodi's first government by three ministers: Beniamino Andreatta at Defence, Rosy Bindi at Health and Michele Pinto at Agriculture. Additionally, Nicola Mancino was President of the Senate.

In the 1999 European Parliament election the PPI was damaged by the competition from The Democrats (Dem), a centrist and social-liberal party launched by Prodi: the PPI won only 4.3% of the vote, while The Democrats took 7.7%.

For the 2001 general election the PPI formed a joint list with The Democrats, the Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR) and Italian Renewal (RI). The list, named Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL), won 14.5% of vote. In 2002 DL was transformed into a full-fledged party, the PPI was merged into it and a cultural association named The Populars was formed. DL would later be merged, along with the Democrats of the Left (DS) and minor centre-left parties, into the Democratic Party (PD), of which The Populars became a faction. Two members of the PPI and DL, Enrico Letta and Matteo Renzi, would successively serve as Prime Ministers in 2013–2016.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament
Chamber of Deputies
Election year Votes % Seats +/− Leader
1994 4,287,172 (4th) 11.1
33 / 630
–
Mino Martinazzoli
1996 2,554,072 (6th) 6.8
67 / 630
Increase 34
Franco Marini
Senate of the Republic
Election year Votes % Seats +/− Leader
1994 5,526,090 (4th) 16.7
27 / 315
–
Mino Martinazzoli
1996 into Ulivo –
31 / 315
Increase 4
Franco Marini

European Parliament
European Parliament
Election year Votes % Seats +/− Leader
1994 3,295,337 (4th) 10.0
8 / 87
–
Mino Martinazzoli
1999 1,316,830 (8th) 4.2
4 / 87
Decrease 4
Franco Marini

Leadership

Symbols

Before the secession of the CDU, the PPI’s logo was adaptation of the old DC’s logo.

  • First logo (1994–1995)
    First logo (1994–1995)
  • Alternative logo
    Alternative logo

References
  1. Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko; Matti Mälkiä (2007). Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Idea Group Inc (IGI). p. 389. ISBN 978-1-59140-790-4.
  2. Martin Clark (2014). Modern Italy, 1871 to the Present. Taylor & Francis. p. 515. ISBN 9781317866039.
  3. Luca Ozzano; Alberta Giorgi (2015). European Culture Wars and the Italian Case. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317365471.
  4. Fabio Padovano; Roberto Ricciuti, eds. (2007). "Appendix 2". Italian Institutional Reforms: A Public Choice Perspective. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-387-72141-5.
  5. Federiga Bindi (2011). Italy and the European Union. Brookings Institution Press. pp. 243–244. ISBN 978-0-8157-0509-3.
  6. Gary Marks; Carole Wilson (1999). "National Parties and the Contestation of Europe". In T. Banchoff; Mitchell P. Smith (eds.). Legitimacy and the European Union. Taylor & Francis. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  7. Davide Vampa (2009). "The Death of Social Democracy: The Case of the Italian Democratic Party" (PDF). Bulletin of Italian Politics. 1 (2).
  8. Christina Holtz-Bacha; Gianpietro Mazzoleni (2004). The Politics of Representation: Election Campaigning and Proportional Representation. Peter Lang. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8204-6148-9.
  9. Bernard A. Cook, ed. (2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 670. ISBN 978-0-8153-4057-7.
  10. Thomas Jansen; Steven Van Hecke (2011). At Europe's Service: The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 63. ISBN 978-3-642-19414-6.
  11. Luciano Bardi; Piero Ignazi (1998). "The Italian Party System: The Effective Magnitude of an Earthquake". In Piero Ignazi; Colette Ysmal (eds.). The Organization of Political Parties in Southern Europe. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-275-95612-7.
  12. Giuseppe Vottari (2004). Storia d'Italia (1861-2001). Alpha Test. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-88-483-0562-4.
  13. Daniela Giannetti; Michael F. Thies (2011). "Electoral Reform and ractional Politics in Italy and Japan". In Daniela Giannetti; Bernard Grofman (eds.). A Natural Experiment on Electoral Law Reform: Evaluating the Long Run Consequences of 1990s Electoral Reform in Italy and Japan. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-4419-7228-6.
  14. Martin J. Bull; James Newell (2005). Italian Politics: Adjustment Under Duress. Polity. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-7456-1298-0.
  15. John Kenneth White; Philip Davies (1998). Political Parties and the Collapse of the Old Orders. SUNY Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-7914-4067-4.
  16. "Archived copy". www.partitodemocratico.it. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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