| Democratic Alliance Alleanza Democratica |
|
|---|---|
Former Italian National Party |
|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Dissolved | 1996 |
| Ideology | Social liberalism, Liberalism |
| Politics of Italy Political parties Elections |
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The Democratic Alliance (Alleanza Democratica, AD) was an Italian political party founded in 1993, with the intent of becoming the container of an alliance of centre-left forces. However, the project did not succeed, and it presented itself as a minor party, mainly composed of former Republicans and former Communists. Its leader was Willer Bordon.
AD was aimed at reforming the centre-left, uniting in a single bloc both the centrists of the Patto Segni and the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left, and transforming it in an "Italian Democratic Party", modelled on the Democratic Party of the United States. The party took very liberal stances on the economy, proposed a shake-up of the Italian political system and was very critical to the perceived statism of the Italian left.
After an unremarkable result (1.2%) at the 1994 general election, due to the uneasy alliance with the left-wing Alliance of Progressives instead of with Silvio Berlusconi, who had embraced most of AD 's policies, its members entered the left-wing and later centre-left coalitions, with the notable exceptions of Ferdinando Adornato and Giulio Tremonti, both currently members of Berlusconi's Forza Italia. However, Tremonti switched to the Patto Segni in 1994 and Adornato left politics in 1996, before joining Forza Italia.
In 1996 the party evolved into the Democratic Union with the entry of other Republicans such as Antonio Maccanico, and some Socialists including Giorgio Benvenuto.