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Europe
Italy |
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Last reviewed: 22 May 2009 |
Country information
HISTORY
The "Risorgimento"
Italian unity was achieved in an intense and dramatic struggle, known as the Risorgimento (Revival), between 1848 and 1870 under the House of Savoy and was essentially the conquest of the Italian peninsula by the Kingdom of Sardinia in the north ruled by the Savoy dynasty from Turin. The first part of this process ended in 1861 with the declaration of the Kingdom of Italy, comprising the northern provinces, Sicily, Sardinia and the south. Mazzini, Garibaldi and Cavour were the epic figures who led the unification of Italy, which was completed in 1871 when the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II (formerly the King of Piedmont and Sardinia), entered Rome, the capital of the Papal States, expelled the French troops defending papal authority and declared it the capital of Italy. The conquest of the Papal States ended the temporal power of the papacy. However, the Church refused to recognise the new state and excommunicated its monarch, the Pope remaining confined within the small enclave of the Vatican. The "Roman Question", or the territorial status of Rome, and the question of Church/state relations were not settled until 1929 when the Lateran Pact was concluded between the Vatican and Mussolini.
Recent History
The General Election of 13 May 2001 was won by Silvio Berlusconi and his centre-right House of Liberties coalition. It became the longest serving post-war Italian Government and the only one to survive the five-year legislative period.
The General Election of 9/10 April 2006 was won by Romano Prodi and his centre-left 'Unione' coalition, with a majority of 67 seats in the Chamber of Deputies but only a 2 seat majority in the Senate. The majority in the Senate had been reduced to zero by the time Prodi lost a vote of confidence in the Senate in January 2008.
New General Elections took place on 13/14 April 2008. Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Liberty (PdL – Popolo della Libertà) party in coalition with the Lega Nord (Northern League, led by Umberto Bossi) and il Movimento per l’Autonomia (MPA - Autonomous Movement led by Raffaele Lombardo) won convincingly, with 47% of the vote, ensuring a comfortable majority in both Houses of Parliament.
The 2008 General Elections heralded an important change in Italian politics, brought about by the decisions of the two biggest parties, the PdL and the PD to run alone in the elections, engendering a more bi-party system. The radical left, in a coalition that went under the name Sinistra Arcobaleno (Left Rainbow) and whose constituent parties held Prodi hostage for 20 months, failed to win any seats in either House. The number of parties in Parliament dropped from 39 to 9.
Recent Political Developments
In April 2007 the two largest parties of the centre-left, the Democratici di Sinistra (DS) and the Margherita, agreed at their respective congresses to the dissolution of their parties and the formation of a new Partito Democratico (Democratic Party). On 14 October 2007 3.5 million people turned out to vote in primary elections to elect the party’s leader, as well as its national and regional executives. Walter Veltroni won the primaries with an overwhelming 75% of the vote. The Partito Democratico’s founding congress is due to be held in Spring 2009, and will be followed by the formal dissolution of the DS and the Margherita parties. The Partito Democratico ran without any former allies on the left in the recent elections, with Veltroni as its prime ministerial candidate.
Similarly Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Gianfranco Fini’s Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance) are in the process of forming a single party known as the Popolo della Libertà (People of Liberty).
The April 2008 election was won with a landslide 48% majority vote by the PdL (as it is more commonly known) led by Silvio Berlusconi, together with coalition partners the Lega Nord (Northern League led by Umberto Bossi) and il Movimento per l’Autonomia (MPA - Autonomous Movement led by Raffaele Lombardo)
The recent elections have heralded a seismic change in Italian politics, brought about by the decisions of the two biggest parties, the PdL and the PD to run alone in the elections. This decision has had the knock on effect producing a more bi-party system. The radical left, in a coalition that goes under the name Sinistra Arcobaleno (Left Rainbow) and whose constituent parties held Prodi hostage for 20 months, failed to win any seats in either House. The number of parties in Parliament has been drastically reduced (from 39 following the 2006 elections to 9).
The new Parliament convened on Tuesday 29 April. The Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his new Government team, were endorsed by a Parliamentary vote of confidence as required by the Constitution.
Recent Political Developments
In April 2007 the two largest parties of the centre-left, the Democratici di Sinistra (DS) and the Margherita, agreed at their respective congresses to the dissolution of their parties and the formation of a new Partito Democratico (Democratic Party - PD). On 14 October 2007, 3.5 million people voted in primary elections for Party leader, as well as for the national and regional executives. Walter Veltroni won the primaries with an overwhelming 75% of the vote.
In the 2008 General Elections, Veltroni stood as the party’s prime ministerial candidate, in coalition with Di Pietro’s Italy of Values party and select members of the Radicals. The PD gained a respectable 34% of the national vote but lost to Berlusconi’s PdL coalition. After this electoral defeat the PD underwent a period of introspection, from which it has still fully to emerge. In addition a series of local electoral defeats and bribery scandals deeply affected the party and Veltroni’s leadership. Following the party’s poor showing in the February 2009 Sardinian Regional Election (24.4% of the vote, compared to 30.5% for Berlusconi’s party), Veltroni resigned and was replaced by his former deputy, Dario Franceschini, as caretaker leader until the party’s founding congress, due to be held in October 2009.
Similarly on the right as a result of their People of Liberty (PdL) 2008 General Election victory, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Gianfranco Fini’s Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance) formalised their merger at the end of March 2009 at the PdL’s inaugural party congress at which Berlusconi was pronounced leader.
Forthcoming electoral tests for both the PdL and the PD are the European Parliamentary Elections (6 and 7 June 2009) which will be held together with a series of local elections to elect 63 provincial administrations and 4.277 town councils. A referendum on the current electoral system will also be held in June.
