Centre-left coalition (Italy)

Centre-left coalition

Coalizione di centro-sinistra
Centre-left coalition Coalizione di centro-sinistra
Leader	Matteo Renzi
Founder	Romano Prodi
Founded	6 March 1995
Preceded by	Alliance of Progressives; Pact for Italy
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Red (customary)
Chamber of Deputies	118 / 630
Senate	57 / 315
European Parliament	28 / 73
Regional Government	16 / 20
	Politics of Italy; Political parties; Elections;

The centre-left coalition (Italian: coalizione di centro-sinistra) is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi.

In the 1996 general election The Olive Tree consisted of the bulk of the left-wing Alliance of Progressives and the bulk of the centrist Pact for Italy, the two losing coalitions in the 1994 general election, the first under a system based primarily on first-past-the-post voting. In 2005 The Union was founded as a wider coalition to contest the 2006 general election, which later collapsed during the 2008 political crisis, with the fall of the Prodi II Cabinet.

In recent history, the centre-left coalition has been built around the Democratic Party, which was established in 2007 from a merger of the bulk of the parties affiliated to both The Olive Tree and The Union.

The Olive Tree (1995–2005)

1996–1998

In the 1996 general election and during the Prodi I Cabinet the coalition was composed of eight parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party of the Left/meta/color" \|	Democratic Party of the Left^[a] (PDS)	Democratic socialism	Massimo D'Alema
bgcolor="Template:Italian People's Party (1994)/meta/color" \|	Italian People's Party^[b] (PPI)	Christian democracy	Franco Marini
	Italian Renewal^[c] (RI)	Liberalism	Lamberto Dini
bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" \|	Federation of the Greens (FdV)	Green politics	Carlo Ripa di Meana
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" \|	Italian Socialists^[c] (SI)	Social democracy	Enrico Boselli
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Union (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Union^[b] (UD)	Social liberalism	Antonio Maccanico
bgcolor="Template:Italian Republican Party/meta/color" \|	Italian Republican Party^[b] (PRI)	Liberalism	Giorgio La Malfa
bgcolor="Template:Segni Pact/meta/color" \|	Segni Pact^[c] (PS)	Centrism	Mario Segni

^ Six minor associate parties of the PDS would merge with the that party in 1998: the Labour Federation, the Social Christians, the Republican Left, the Movement of Unitarian Communists, the Reformists for Europe and the Democratic Federation, the latter a regional party in Sardinia.
^ ^a ^b ^c The three parties contested the election in the Populars for Prodi joint list, along with the South Tyrolean People's Party (see below).
^ ^a ^b ^c The three parties contested the election in a joint list named after Italian Renewal and Lamberto Dini.

The coalition was externally supported by:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Communist Refoundation Party/meta/color" \|	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	Communism	Fausto Bertinotti

The coalition had four regional partners:

Region	Party		Ideology	Leader
Aosta Valley	bgcolor="Template:Valdostan Union/meta/color" \|	Valdostan Union (UV)	Regionalism	Luciano Caveri
South Tyrol	bgcolor="Template:South Tyrolean People's Party/meta/color" \|	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	Regionalism	Siegfried Brugger
Veneto		Lega Autonomia Veneta (LAV)	Regionalism	Mario Rigo
Sardinia		Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az)	Sardinian nationalism	Franco Meloni

1998–2001

In 1998 the Communist Refoundation Party brought down the Prodi II Cabinet. In 1998-2001, during the two governments led by Massimo D'Alema (I Cabinet and II Cabinet, 1998–2000) and the one led by Giuliano Amato (Amato II Cabinet, 2000–2001), the coalition was composed of eight parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democrats of the Left/meta/color" \|	Democrats of the Left (DS)	Social democracy	Walter Veltroni
bgcolor="Template:Italian People's Party (1994)/meta/color" \|	Italian People's Party (PPI)	Christian democracy	Franco Marini / Pierluigi Castagnetti
bgcolor="Template:The Democrats (Italy)/meta/color" \|	The Democrats (Dem)	Centrism	Romano Prodi / Arturo Parisi
bgcolor="Template:Italian Renewal/meta/color" \|	Italian Renewal (RI)	Liberalism	Lamberto Dini
	Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	Communism	Armando Cossutta / Oliviero Diliberto
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" \|	Italian Democratic Socialists^[a] (SDI)	Social democracy	Enrico Boselli
bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" \|	Federation of the Greens (FdV)	Green politics	Luigi Manconi / Grazia Francescato
	Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR) Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR)	Christian democracy	Clemente Mastella

^ The party did not participate in D'Alema II Cabinet and briefly formed The Clover coalition, along with the Italian Republican Party and the Union for the Republic.

2001 general election

In the 2001 general election the coalition, led by Francesco Rutelli, was composed of six parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democrats of the Left/meta/color" \|	Democrats of the Left (DS)	Social democracy	Walter Veltroni
bgcolor="Template:Italian People's Party (1994)/meta/color" \|	Italian People's Party^[a] (PPI)	Christian democracy	Pierluigi Castagnetti
bgcolor="Template:The Democrats (Italy)/meta/color" \|	The Democrats^[a] (Dem)	Centrism	Arturo Parisi
bgcolor="Template:Italian Renewal/meta/color" \|	Italian Renewal^[a] (RI)	Liberalism	Lamberto Dini
bgcolor="Template:Union of Democrats for Europe/meta/color" \|	Union of Democrats for Europe^[a] (UDEUR)	Christian democracy	Clemente Mastella
	Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	Communism	Oliviero Diliberto
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" \|	Italian Democratic Socialists^[b] (SDI)	Social democracy	Enrico Boselli
bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" \|	Federation of the Greens^[b] (FdV)	Green politics	Grazia Francescato

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d The four parties contested the election within the Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) joint list.
^ ^a ^b The two parties contested the election in The Sunflower joint list.

The coalition had four regional partners:

Region	Party		Ideology	Leader
Aosta Valley	bgcolor="Template:Valdostan Union/meta/color" \|	Valdostan Union (UV)	Regionalism	Luciano Caveri
Aosta Valley	bgcolor="Template:Edelweiss (Aosta Valley)/meta/color" \|	Edelweiss (SA)	Regionalism	Maurizio Martin
South Tyrol	bgcolor="Template:South Tyrolean People's Party/meta/color" \|	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	Regionalism	Siegfried Brugger
Trentino		Daisy Civic List (CM)	Regionalism	Lorenzo Dellai

2004 EP election

In the 2004 European Parliament election, the United in the Olive Tree joint list, was composed of four parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democrats of the Left/meta/color" \|	Democrats of the Left (DS)	Social democracy	Piero Fassino
bgcolor="Template:The Daisy/meta/color" \|	Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL)	Centrism	Francesco Rutelli
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" \|	Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI)	Social democracy	Enrico Boselli
bgcolor="Template:European Republicans Movement/meta/color" \|	European Republicans Movement (MRE)	Social liberalism	Luciana Sbarbati

The Union (2005–2008)

2006 general election

In the 2006 general election the coalition was composed of twelve parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democrats of the Left/meta/color" \|	Democrats of the Left^[a] (DS)	Social democracy	Piero Fassino
bgcolor="Template:The Daisy/meta/color" \|	Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy^[a] (DL)	Centrism	Francesco Rutelli
bgcolor="Template:Communist Refoundation Party/meta/color" \|	Communist Refoundation Party (PRC)	Communism	Fausto Bertinotti
bgcolor="Template:Federation of the Greens/meta/color" \|	Federation of the Greens (FdV)	Green politics	Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
	Party of Italian Communists (PdCI)	Communism	Oliviero Diliberto
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" \|	Italian Democratic Socialists^[b] (SDI)	Social democracy	Enrico Boselli
	Italian Radicals^[b] (Rad)	Liberalism	Daniele Capezzone
	Italy of Values (IdV)	Populism	Antonio Di Pietro
	Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR)	Christian democracy	Clemente Mastella
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party/meta/color" \|	The Italian Socialists (SI)	Social democracy	Bobo Craxi
bgcolor="Template:European Republicans Movement/meta/color" \|	European Republicans Movement^[a] (MRE)	Social liberalism	Luciana Sbarbati
bgcolor="Template:Pensioners' Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Pensioners' Party (PP)	Pensioners' interests	Carlo Fatuzzo

^ ^a ^b ^c The three parties contested the election within The Olive Tree joint list. In 2007 they would form the Democratic Party.
^ ^a ^b The two parties contested elections within the Rose in the Fist joint list.

The coalition had six regional partners:

Region	Party		Ideology	Leader
Aosta Valley		Valdostan Renewal (UV)	Regionalism	Carlo Perrin
South Tyrol	bgcolor="Template:South Tyrolean People's Party/meta/color" \|	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	Regionalism	Elmar Pichler Rolle
Lombardy		Lega Autonomia Lombarda (LAL)	Regionalism	Matteo Brivio
Veneto		Liga Fronte Veneto (LFV)	Venetian nationalism	Fabrizio Comencini
Calabria		Southern Democratic Party^[a] (PDM)	Centrism	Agazio Loiero
Sardinia		Sardinia Project^[a] (PS)	Social democracy	Renato Soru

^ ^a ^b Founding members of the Democratic Party.

PD-led coalitions (2008–present)

2008 general election

In the 2008 general election the coalition, led by Walter Veltroni,^[1] was composed of two parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Party^[a] (PD)	Social democracy	Walter Veltroni
bgcolor="Template:Italy of Values/meta/color" \|	Italy of Values (IdV)	Populism	Antonio Di Pietro

^ Including also the Italian Radicals.

2013 general election

In the 2013 general election, the coalition ran as Italy. Common Good under the leadership of Pier Luigi Bersani,^[2] and was composed of four parties:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Party (PD)	Social democracy	Pier Luigi Bersani
bgcolor="Template:Left Ecology Freedom/meta/color" \|	Left Ecology Freedom (SEL)	Democratic socialism	Nichi Vendola
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Centre (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Centre (CD)	Centrism	Bruno Tabacci
bgcolor="Template:Italian Socialist Party (2007)/meta/color" \|	Italian Socialist Party (PSI)	Social democracy	Riccardo Nencini

The coalition had four regional partners:

Region	Party		Ideology	Leader
Aosta Valley		Progressive Valdostan Union (UVP)	Regionalism	Laurent Viérin
Aosta Valley		Autonomy Liberty Participation Ecology	Regionalism	Carlo Perrin
Piedmont		Moderates (M)	Centrism	Giacomo Portas
South Tyrol	bgcolor="Template:South Tyrolean People's Party/meta/color" \|	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	Regionalism	Richard Theiner
South Tyrol	bgcolor="Template:Greens (South Tyrol)/meta/color" \|	Greens of South Tyrol^[a] (Grüne)	Green politics	Sepp Kusstatscher, Brigitte Foppa
Trentino	bgcolor="Template:Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party/meta/color" \|	Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (PATT)	Regionalism	Franco Panizza
Trentino	bgcolor="Template:Union for Trentino/meta/color" \|	Union for Trentino (UpT)	Regionalism	Lorenzo Dellai
Sicily		The Megaphone – Crocetta List	Regionalism	Rosario Crocetta

^ Associate party of Left Ecology Freedom.

2018 general election

In the 2018 general election the coalition is composed of four electoral lists:

Party		Ideology	Leader
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Party (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Democratic Party^[a] (PD)	Social democracy	Matteo Renzi
bgcolor="Template:More Europe/meta/color" \|	More Europe^[b] (+E)	Liberalism	Emma Bonino
bgcolor="Template:Together (Italy)/meta/color" \|	Together^[c] (I)	Progressivism	Giulio Santagata
bgcolor="Template:Popular Civic/meta/color" \|	Popular Civic List^[d] (CP)	Centrism	Beatrice Lorenzin

^ Including the Moderates (see below).
^ Including the Italian Radicals, Forza Europa, the Democratic Centre and Progressive Area.
^ Including the Italian Socialist Party, the Federation of the Greens and Civic Area.
^ Includes Popular Alternative, Italy of Values, the Centrists for Europe, Solidary Democracy, the Union for Trentino (see below) – loosely affiliated to Solidary Democracy at the national level –, Italy is Popular, the Christian Popular Union and Popular Italy.

The coalition has seven regional partners:

Region	Party		Ideology	Leader
Aosta Valley	bgcolor="Template:Valdostan Union/meta/color" \|	Valdostan Union (UV)	Regionalism	Ennio Pastoret
		Progressive Valdostan Union (UVP)	Regionalism	Laurent Viérin
		Valdostan Autonomist Popular Edelweiss (EPAV)	Regionalism	Mauro Baccega
Piedmont		Moderates (M)	Centrism	Giacomo Portas
South Tyrol	bgcolor="Template:South Tyrolean People's Party/meta/color" \|	South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP)	Regionalism	Philipp Achammer
Trentino	bgcolor="Template:Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party/meta/color" \|	Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (PATT)	Regionalism	Franco Panizza
Trentino	bgcolor="Template:Union for Trentino/meta/color" \|	Union for Trentino (UpT)	Regionalism	Tiziano Mellarini

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
Chamber of Deputies
1996	15,758,981 (#1)	42.2	322 / 630	109	Romano Prodi
2001	16,209,944 (#2)	43.5	247 / 630	75	Francesco Rutelli
2006	19,036,986 (#1)	49.8	348 / 630	101	Romano Prodi
2008	13,689,303 (#2)	37.5	239 / 630	109	Walter Veltroni
2013	10,047,603 (#1)	29.5	345 / 630	106	Pier Luigi Bersani
2018	TBD (#3)	22.8	122 / 630	223	Matteo Renzi

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
Senate of the Republic
1996	13,444,977 (#1)	41.2	169 / 315	47	Romano Prodi
2001	13,282,495 (#2)	39.2	128 / 315	41	Francesco Rutelli
2006	17,118,364 (#2)	49.2	158 / 315	30	Romano Prodi
2008	12,457,182 (#2)	38.7	130 / 315	28	Walter Veltroni
2013	9,686,683 (#1)	31.6	127 / 315	3	Pier Luigi Bersani
2018	TBD (#3)	23.0	58 / 315	69	Matteo Renzi

References

^ "Berlusconi declares election win". BBC News. 14 April 2008.
^ "Italian election results: gridlock likely – as it happened". Guardian. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013.

[fn1-1] Six minor associate parties of the PDS would merge with the that party in 1998: the Labour Federation, the Social Christians, the Republican Left, the Movement of Unitarian Communists, the Reformists for Europe and the Democratic Federation, the latter a regional party in Sardinia.

[fn2-2] The three parties contested the election in the Populars for Prodi joint list, along with the South Tyrolean People's Party (see below).

[fn3-3] The three parties contested the election in a joint list named after Italian Renewal and Lamberto Dini.

[fn1-4] The party did not participate in D'Alema II Cabinet and briefly formed The Clover coalition, along with the Italian Republican Party and the Union for the Republic.

[fn1-5] The four parties contested the election within the Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) joint list.

[fn2-6] The two parties contested the election in The Sunflower joint list.

[fn1-7] The three parties contested the election within The Olive Tree joint list. In 2007 they would form the Democratic Party.

[fn2-8] The two parties contested elections within the Rose in the Fist joint list.

[fn1-9] Founding members of the Democratic Party.

[fn1-11] Including also the Italian Radicals.

[fn1-13] Associate party of Left Ecology Freedom.

[fn1-14] Including the Moderates (see below).

[fn2-15] Including the Italian Radicals, Forza Europa, the Democratic Centre and Progressive Area.

[fn4-16] Including the Italian Socialist Party, the Federation of the Greens and Civic Area.

[fn3-17] Includes Popular Alternative, Italy of Values, the Centrists for Europe, Solidary Democracy, the Union for Trentino (see below) – loosely affiliated to Solidary Democracy at the national level –, Italy is Popular, the Christian Popular Union and Popular Italy.

[10] "Berlusconi declares election win". BBC News. 14 April 2008.

[12] "Italian election results: gridlock likely – as it happened". Guardian. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013.

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v t e Political parties in Italy
Chamber of Deputies	Brothers of Italy (117) Democratic Party (71) (incl. DemoS and CD) Lega (66) Five Star Movement (50) Forza Italia (48) (incl. NPSI) Action (10) Italia Viva (7) Greens and Left Alliance Green Europe [5] Italian Left [4] Progressive Party [1] Us Moderates (5) South Tyrolean People's Party (3) More Europe (2) (incl. RI) Animalist Movement (1) Associative Movement of Italians Abroad (1) Coraggio Italia (1) South calls North (1) Union of the Centre (1) Valdostan Union (1)
Senate of the Republic	Brothers of Italy (66) Democratic Party (37) Lega (29) (incl. Fassa) Five Star Movement (26) Forza Italia (20) Italia Viva (7) Action (2) Greens and Left Alliance Italian Left [2] Green Europe [1] Us Moderates Union of the Centre [1] South Tyrolean People's Party (2) Associative Movement of Italians Abroad (1) Campobase (1) Coraggio Italia (1)
European Parliament	Brothers of Italy (24) Democratic Party (21) Five Star Movement (8) Forza Italia (8) Lega (8) Greens and Left Alliance (6) South Tyrolean People's Party (1)
Other parties in Regional councils	Aosta Valley Civic Network Edelweiss For Our Valley For Autonomy Mouv' Valdostan Alliance Piedmont Moderates Lombardy Renaissance Trentino Autonomy House La Civica Futura Trentino Popular Autonomists Trentino Project Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party Union for Trentino South Tyrol Team K Greens Die Freiheitlichen For South Tyrol with Widmann JWA List South Tyrolean Freedom La Civica Vita Veneto Liga Veneta Repubblica Friuli-Venezia Giulia Pact for Autonomy Slovene Union Abruzzo Political Action Molise Building Democracy Populars for Italy Campania Italy Is Popular Italian Socialist Party Us of the Centre Apulia Popular Apulia Basilicata Identity and Action Sicily Christian Democracy Sicily Movement for Autonomy Sicilia Vera Sardinia Civic Sardinia Sardinia 20Twenty Sardinian Action Party Sardinian Reformers Possible
Historical Italian political parties 19th-century Italian political groups Early 20th-century Italian political parties 1950s–1990s Italian political parties

The Olive Tree (1995–2005)

1996–1998

1998–2001

2001 general election

2004 EP election

The Union (2005–2008)

2006 general election

PD-led coalitions (2008–present)

2008 general election

2013 general election

2018 general election

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

See also

References