| UDEUR Populars for the South UDEUR Popolari per il Sud |
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Clemente Mastella |
| Founded | 23 May 1999 |
| Dissolved | 25 June 2010 |
| Headquarters | Largo Arenula, 34 00186 Rome |
| Newspaper | Il Campanile |
| Membership | unknown |
| Ideology | Christian democracy, Centrism |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party |
| Website | |
| http://www.popolariudeur.it | |
| Politics of Italy Political parties Elections |
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UDEUR Populars for the South (UDEUR Popolari per il Sud) is a small centrist and Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Clemente Mastella, the party has been at times very strong in Southern Italy, but almost irrelevant in Northern Italy. After a decline in terms of popularity in 2007–2008, the party resists only in Campania (Mastella's heartland).
The "UDEUR" part of the name refers to "Union of Democrats for Europe", which was the party's name until November 2003.
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UDEUR emerged in May 1999 after the breakup of the Democratic Union for the Republic. This party was founded in June 1998, under the leadership of Francesco Cossiga, by the merger of the United Christian Democrats of Rocco Buttiglione, the Christian Democrats for the Republic (a splinter group from the Christian Democratic Centre) of Mastella, the Patto Segni of Mario Segni and splinters from Forza Italia, National Alliance and Lega Nord.
At its debut in the 1999 European Parliament election, the party received 1.6% of the vote, having its strongholds in the South (5.1% in Campania, 4.4% in Apulia and 7.1% in Sicily).
In 2000, along with the Italian People's Party, The Democrats and Italian Renewal, UDEUR joined Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL), which gained 14.6% in the 2001 general election. When DL was transformed into a party, Mastella refused to join.
At the 2004 European Parliamentary Election, it achieved 1.3% of the national vote, sufficient to elect an MEP, who sat in the EPP-ED Group. In the 2005 regional elections the party had its best result ever, having scored 10.3% in Campania, 11.1% in Basilicata and 8.7% in Calabria.
Mastella decided to keep the party in the centre-left, although it was in conflict with the secularist policies of the then-new political alliance Rose in the Fist and despite the presence of far left parties such as the Communist Refoundation Party. In fact the party remained in the political sphere of the centre even though its policies were not very compatible with the centre-left coalition.
At the 2006 general election, UDEUR was part of The Union coalition. It obtained 1.4% of the votes, electing 14 deputies (4 in The Olive Tree's list) and 3 senators. The Union won the election, and Mastella was appointed Minister of Justice in Romano Prodi's second government.
On 16 January 2008 Clemente Mastella, who was under investigation by prosecutor Luigi de Magistris, resigned as Minister of Justice and on 21 January decided to withdraw his party's support to Romano Prodi, who himself resigned after a vote of confidence in the Senate on 24 January, clearing the way toward a snap election.
In the following weeks the party suffered several splits leading to several regional parties, notably the Democratic Populars[1] in Campania, the United Populars[2] in Basilicata and the Sardinian Autonomist Populars[3][4] in Sardinia, while the Umbrian regional section joined Christian Democracy. Most leading members, including Antonio Satta, Stefano Cusumano, Mauro Fabris, Armando Veneto and Tommaso Barbato, left.
In the 2008 general election both The People of Freedom (PdL) and the Union of the Centre (UdC) refused UDEUR as coalition partner. The party was thus reduced to a regional party in Campania. The party chose not to present any list in the election and even Mastella decided not to run for re-election.[5]
In February 2009 an alliance between UDEUR and the PdL in Campania was announced by the regional leaders of the two parties. Under this agreement, UDEUR supported centre-right candidates in 2009 provincial and municipal elections in Campania[6] and Mastella was elected to the 2009 European Parliament election in the PdL list.
After being almost disbanded in 2008, the party tried to recover and broaden its base. Some former UDEUR members came back[7] and new members joined. The latter included Giulio Di Donato, a former leading figure of the Italian Socialist Party, who was appointed regional secretary in Campania.[8]
In June 2010 the party took the name Populars for the South,[9] but in early 2011 that was changed again into UDEUR Populars for the South. In May 2011 Mastella ran for mayor of Naples and gained just 2.5% of the vote.[10] After the election, he announced his intention to leave the PdL and form an alliance with the New Pole for Italy.[11]