Democratic Liberal Party (Italy)

Democratic Liberal Party
Partito Liberale Democratico
Founder Francesco Saverio Nitti
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Founded 1921
Dissolved 1926
Preceded by Radical Party
Headquarters Rome, Italy
Ideology Social liberalism
Liberalism
Political position Centre-left
National affiliation National List (1924–26)
International affiliation None
Politics of Italy
Political parties
Elections

The Democratic Liberal Party (Italian: Partito Liberale Democratico, PLD) was a social-liberal political party in Italy.

It was formed for the 1921 general election by the union of the Radical Party with several other liberal parties, most of whom had taken part to the joint lists between the Radicals and the Liberals in many single-seat constituencies of the country in 1919, gaining 16.0% of the vote and 96 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. In 1921 the PLD gained 10.5% of the vote and 68 seats, doing particularly well in Piedmont and Southern Italy.[1]

After World War II former Radicals and Democrats led by Francesco Saverio Nitti joined the National Democratic Union alongside Liberals and other elements of the old Liberal elite that governed Italy from the years of Giovanni Giolitti until the rise of Benito Mussolini and the instauration of the Fascist regime.

Electoral results

Chamber of Deputies
Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/– Leader
1921 684,855 (#4) 10.4
68 / 535
Francesco Saverio Nitti
1924 157,932 (#8) 2.2
14 / 508
Decrease 54
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando

References

  1. Piergiorgio Corbetta; Maria Serena Piretti, Atlante storico-elettorale d'Italia, Zanichelli, Bologna 2009