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The 'Democratic Party' (''Partito Democratico'', PD) is a proposed political party in Italy. It is meant to be a merger of various party which were part of the ''L'Unione'' coalition in the 2006 general election. Its core would likely consist of the social-democratic Democrats of the Left and the centrist Democracy is Freedom – Daisy, whereas other parties might join it later in the founding process; it is considered certain that the Ecologists for the Olive Tree, the Southern Democratic Party, Middle-of-the-Road Italy and Renato Soru's Sardinia Project will join the party. Italy of Values was also widely considered to be likely to join the party, but this is currently in doubt. The Italian Democratic Socialist Party, the Italian Socialists, the Italian Democratic Socialists and the Democratic Left have ruled out joining the party. (This led to the split of the Reformist Alliance from the SDI, consisting of former SDI members who want to join the PD; they are led by Ottaviano Del Turco.) While the European Republican Movement was initially considered certain to join the PD, they decided in late July not to become part of the PD in protest over the primary election rules.
On May 11, 2007 Democrats of the Left leader Piero Fassino announced the founding convention of the Democratic Party will be held on 14 October 2007, when Romano Prodi will be elected its first chairman.^[1]

Contents

History

Olive Tree

Democracy is Freedom

Democracy is Freedom and Democrats of the Left together

Road to the first convention

Leadership race

Accepted candidacies

Rejected and withdrawn candidacies

Issues

Public support

Trivia

See also

References

External links

History

Olive Tree

In the early 1990s, following Tangentopoli, the end of the so-called "Italian First Republic" and the disbandment of the Italian Communist Party, a process started in order to join the moderate left-wing forces of Italian politics to a single political entity. This process caused the entering of Romano Prodi into national politics and the creation of the centre-left Olive Tree coalition that won the 1996 general election. Later steps brought in 1998 the Democratic Party of the Left to give up every single communist legacy and embrace the democratic socialism, thus giving birth to the Democrats of the Left.

Democracy is Freedom

In 1998, contemporarily with the democratic-socialist change inside the DS, a new party, The Democrats (''I Democratici''), was launched by Romano Prodi, with a reformist left-of-centre platform based on social liberalism, social democracy and Christian democracy. Popular-UDEUR, which were initially part of the Daisy, later abandoned the alliance, whereas The Democrats merged with the Italian People's Party and Italian Renewal, both two Christian democratic left-of-centre parties, to found the Daisy in 2002.

Democracy is Freedom and Democrats of the Left together

In the summer of 2003, Romano Prodi suggested the centre-left forces to participate in the 2004 European parliamentary election with a common list. Whereas the Popular-UDEUR and the radical left parties refused the offer, four parties accepted it: Democrats of the Left, The Daisy, Italian Democratic Socialists and European Republican Movement successively founded a common list called ''Uniti nell'Ulivo'' (United in the Olive Tree) which ran in the election, obtaining 31.1% of national votes. The project was later abandoned in 2006 by the Italian Democratic Socialists, which preferred to run in a ticket wit the Italian Radicals known as Rose in the Fist. In the 2006 election, the Olive Tree list ran only in the Chamber of Deputies, obtaining 31.2% of national votes, more than the total of the percentage votes obtained by the single three parties in the Senate.

Road to the first convention

The 2006 election result, together with the success of the 2005 centre-left primary election, in which over four million voters formally endorsed Prodi as PM candidate, gave a push to the project of a unified centre-left reformist party. Since then, Francesco Rutelli and Piero Fassino, party leaders of Daisy and Democrats of the Left, scheduled their party conventions for April 2006 in order to formally approve the merger. On February 2007, a manifesto for the party, written by twelve centre-left "sages", was announced. On April 19, 2007, Democrats of the Left's national convention started in Florence; it is likely to be the last, since circa 75% of the Democrats of the Left members already voted in support of party secretary Fassino's motion in favour of founding the Democratic Party as soon as possible; the left-wing minority, headed by minister Fabio Mussi and opposed to the project, obtained circa 15% of the support within the party. A third motion, presented by Gavino Angius and supportive of the Democratic Party only within the Party of European Socialists, obtained 10% of votes.
During and following the Democrats of the Left national convention, both Mussi and Angius announced their intention not to join the Democratic Party; as they announced, it seems possible they would look forward to build a new left-wing socialist movement together with parties that are not involved in the Democratic Party project, such as Communist Refoundation Party, Federation of the Greens and Party of Italian Communists.
On May 22, 2007 the list of members of the Organizing Committee of the Democratic Party was announced: it features 45 politicians, mainly from DL and DS, but also including figures such as Middle-of-the-Road Italy leader Marco Follini, Abruzzo regional president and leading member of the Italian Democratic Socialists Ottaviano Del Turco, Luciana Sbarbati, Renato Soru and Giuliano Amato.^[2] On June 18 the organizing committee met to decide the rules for the primary election of the 2,400 members of the Constituting Assembly. Prodi announced each voter will choose between a number of lists, each of them associated with a candidate leader; the assembly will then elect the first leader in the October 14 founding convention. At least one hundred signatures will be necessary for each list in order to run in the election.^[3]

Leadership race

All candidates interested in running for the Democratic Party leadership must present at least 2,000 valid signatures not later than July 30, 2007. All candidates must also be associated with the Democratic Party project, as either members of the political subjects forming it or with no party association at all.
On the July 30 deadline, a total of ten candidates officially registered their candidacy: Walter Veltroni, Rosy Bindi, Enrico Letta, Furio Colombo, Marco Pannella, Antonio Di Pietro, Mario Adinolfi, Pier Giorgio Gawronski, Jacopo Gavazzoli Schettini, Lucio Cangini and Amerigo Rutigliano. Of these, Pannella and Di Pietro were stopped because of their involvement in external parties, whereas Cangini and Rutigliano did not manage to present the necessary 2,000 valid signatures for the 9pm deadline, and Colombo's candidacy was instead made into hiatus in order to give him 48 additional hours to integrate the required documentation; Colombo later decided to retire his candidacy citing his impossibility to fit with all the requirements.^[4] All rejected candidates had the chance against the decision in 48 hours' time,^[5] with Pannella and Rutigliano being the only two candidates to appeal against it.^[6] Both were rejected on 3 August.^[7]

Accepted candidacies

;Walter Veltroni
Walter Veltroni is the incumbent Mayor of Rome and a former Democrats of the Left leader.^[8] His candidacy was publicly asked on June 20 by incumbent Democrats of the Left leader Piero Fassino publicly asked Walter Veltroni,^[9] being suggested by several opinion polls suggesting Veltroni could potentially win hands down the leadership race.^[10]
Veltroni officially announced his intention to run at a widely publicized rally in Turin on June 27.^[11] He will run in a joint ticket with deputy-leadership candidate Dario Franceschini, Olive Tree speaker at the Chamber of Deputies.
;Rosy Bindi
Rosaria "Rosy" Bindi is currently part of the Prodi II Cabinet as Minister of Family (a minister without portfolio) for Democracy is Freedom – Daisy.⁸ She announced her candidacy on July 16.^[12]
;Enrico Letta
Enrico Letta is the incumbent undersecretary in the Prodi II Cabinet, and a Democracy is Freedom – Daisy leading member. 40-year-old Letta announced his candidacy via a video posted online on his personal website on July 24.^[13]
;Minor candidates

★ Mario Adinolfi, 35-year old journalist and blogger,⁸ and supporter of direct democracy and higher involvement of young people in the national political scenario. He announced his intention to run on July 18 through his blog.^[14]

★ Pier Giorgio Gawronski, 50-year old economist and Oxford graduate;^[15]16

★ Jacopo Gavazzoli Schettini, director of the European Investment Agency, announced his candidacy on July 3.⁸

Rejected and withdrawn candidacies

;Marco Pannella
Marco Pannella is a historical leader of the Italian Radicals.⁸ He announced his intention to run for the party leadership on July 21, but this was refused by the Presidency Office. Despite this, Pannella kept on campaigning for his candidacy and received support from Minister of International Commerce and fellow Radical Emma Bonino, who offered herself to campaign as potential deputy leader.
;Antonio Di Pietro
On the night of July 30, a few minutes shy of the deadline, incumbent Minister of Infrastructures and Italy of Values leader Antonio Di Pietro was officially unveiled as entering the race. His candidacy was however refused due to his commitments to Italy of Values.^{[16] [17]}
;Furio Colombo
Furio Colombo is an elected Senator for Democrats of the Left, and former editor-in-law for left-leaning newspaper ''L'Unità''.⁸ He announced his candidacy on July 15 with an article published on ''L'Unità'' itself.^[18] His candidacy was initially made into hiatus by the Organizing Committee due to his failure in presenting the original copy of many of the requested 2,000 signatures. Colombo then announced his withdrawal from the competition, citing his impossibility to leave Rome in the days to come due to his Senate commitments.
;Minor candidates

★ Lucio Cangini, former Mayor of Sarsina and local Democrats of the Left councilman.⁸ He will not however run in the leadership race after having failed to hand over a minimum of 2,000 valid signatures in support of his candidacy.¹⁶

★ Amerigo Rutigliano, leader of minor movement ''Unità Democratica Sinistra Europea'' (Democratic Union - European Left).^[19] He however handed over the necessary signatures with a 30 minutes delay with respect to the 9pm deadline, and his candidacy was therefore rejected.¹⁶

Issues

The foundation of the Democratic Party is called into question by various cases of infighting among the prospective members of the new party; the discussion on which European political party to join also seems to be far from solved, with some parties being in favour of the Party of European Socialists (e.g. the Democrats of the Left) and some in favour of the European Democratic Party (e.g. Democracy is Freedom – Daisy). It is planned to come into being by the end of 2008, in time to contest the 2009 European Parliament election.^[20]
Recently, a number of associations were started nationwide in favour of the Democratic Party. Among them, ''Federazione delle Associazioni per il Partito Democratico'' (Federation of Associations for the Democratic Party), ''Libertà e Giustizia'' (Freedom and Justice) and ''Associazione della Sinistra per il Partito Democratico'' (Left-Wing Association for the Democratic Party).

Public support

Public support for the new party has been quoted as being between 27.5%^[21] and 35%.^[22]

Trivia

The term ''Partito Democratico'' was first used in the Regional Council of Veneto, where the Democrats of the Left and Daisy form a joint parliamentary group called ''L'Ulivo – Partito Democratico Veneto'' (Olive Tree – Venetian Democratic Party).^[23]

See also

★ Reformism

★ Historic Compromise

★ The Olive Tree

★ Democrats of the Left

★ Democracy is Freedom – Daisy

References

1. Pd, assemblea il 14 ottobre. Prodi: "Ora fare in fretta"
2. Pd, è nato il comitato dei 45. Prodi: "Nessuna egemonia Ds o Dl"
3. Pd, Prodi: "Avrà un segretario forte". Lo eleggerà l'assemblea costituente
4. PD: COLOMBO RITIRA CANDIDATURA
5. PD: BOCCIATE CANDIDATURE DI PIETRO E PANNELLA
6. PD: COLLEGIO GARANTI DECIDERA' DOMANI SU PANNELLA
7. http://www.unionesarda.it/DettaglioCategorizzato/?contentId=11794
8. Pd, Letta e Pannella fra i possibili 8 sfidanti
9. Pd: Fassino «Veltroni si candidi a segreteria»
10. Sondaggio Politico-Elettorale - Il Comitato dei 45 Ekma SRL - Sondaggi Politico Elettorali
11. Italy's Left Looks Beyond Prodi
12. Rosy Bindi si candida alla segreteria del Pd
13. Pd: Letta si candida via web, "riconquistare la parola libertà"
14. Pd, si candida l'outsider Mario Adinolfi
15. I magnifici nove
16. Pd, in corsa anche Pannella e Di Pietro
17. http://www.skylife.it/html/skylife/tg24/articolo/Luglio%202007/070731-pd-bocciati-pannella-e-di-pietro-restano-veltroni-bindi-letta-adinolfi-colombo.html
18. Pd, Colombo sfiderà Veltroni «E ora Moretti si faccia vivo»
19. LA DICHIARAZIONE DI INTENTI DI AMERIGO RUTIGLIANO
20. Presentato il Manifesto del Partito democratico
21. http://www.sondaggipoliticoelettorali.it/asp/visualizza_sondaggio.asp?idsondaggio=2436
22. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19793534/
23. Gruppi consiliari

External links

★ The party "manifesto"

★ ''Federazione delle Associazioni per il Partito Democratico''

★ ''Associazione della Sinistra per il Partito Democratico''

★ ''Libertà e Giustizia''