The Union (political coalition)

The Union
L'Unione
Leader Romano Prodi
Founded 10 February 2005
Dissolved 8 February 2008
Preceded by The Olive Tree (1996 and 2001 general elections)
Headquarters Piazza SS. Apostoli, 55
Rome
Political position Centre-left[1][2]
Politics of Italy
Political parties
Elections

The Union (Italian: L'Unione) was an heterogenous centre-left electoral alliance[3] of political parties in Italy. It was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from April 2006 to April 2008, and former President of the European Commission.

Parties

The Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree coalition which represented the centre-left parties in the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, The Union also included parties of the radical left, which were not part of The Olive Tree.

The parties which were part of the coalition for most of the time are:

The Democratic Party (PD, social-democratic), a merger of DS and DL, replaced its predecessor parties as a member of The Union upon its foundation in October 2007, becoming the largest member party of the alliance.

Primary elections

Romano Prodi was the leader of L'Unione, having won the primary elections.

As of 2005, the coalition was assumed to be led by Prodi, however he called for a primary election in order to gain an official leadership. Primary elections were a novelty in Italian politics, as the proportional system in place until the early 1990s was supposed to present sufficient variety to electors. With the new majoritarian electoral system, two clear blocks emerged since 1996. The primary elections for The Union took place on 16 October 2005.

Previous primary election in Apulia

Primary elections had never been held on a national level before in Italy, and only once at a regional level, in Apulia: in that occasion, Nichi Vendola, a communist and gay Catholic, became the candidate for the centre-left coalition in a region reputed to be conservative and with deep religious roots. The institute of primary election came under criticism from some centre-left moderates, as in their opinion it had produced a useless candidate doomed to failure. However, Vendola's victory against the incumbent governor and centre-right candidate Raffaele Fitto, a much more conventional and moderate young man, vindicated the primary elections in the internal argumentations of The Union.

Candidates

When the primary elections were first proposed, they were mostly meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi, since there were no other candidates to the leadership of the coalition. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti, then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as a symbolic candidate, to avoid a one-candidate election. After some time, more candidates were presented.

The seven candidates for the leadership of The Union were, in the order in which they appear on the electoral ballot:

The primary election may have been foreseen an easy win for Romano Prodi, with the other candidates running mostly to "measure their strengths" in the coalition, and they often talked about reaching a certain percentage rather than winning. However, there were rumours of supporters of the House of Freedoms trying to participate in the elections, and vote in favour of Mastella, reputed to be the least competent of the candidates and the least likely to win against Berlusconi, other than the most centrist; other rumours indicated such "fake" left-wing voters would vote for Bertinotti, because his leadership would likely lose any grip on the political centre.

The election

The primary election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.. The primary election was open to all Italian citizens who will be at least 18 for the next general election, plus regular immigrants who have lived in Italy for three years (immigrants still do not have the opportunity to vote for any other election in Italy), against a payment of (at least) 1 euro, in order to cover all the organizational expenses. Poll stations were mainly managed on a voluntary basis; they were hosted mainly in squares, local party quarters, schools, and even restaurants, bars, campers and a hairdresser; some polling stations were also provided outside the country for Italians abroad. Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election. The total count was in excess of 4,300,000.

Allegations of fraud by Mastella

Clemente Mastella claimed, already on the election day, that too few ballots had been provided in areas where his party is stronger, and that several pre-marked voting papers, pre-marked with votes for Prodi, have been prepared in order to let him lose. No one other than Mastella backed up these claims inside the coalition, and material evidence was not presented.

Murder of Francesco Fortugno

Francesco Fortugno, vice-president of the Council of Calabria and member of The Daisy (DL), was murdered on 16 October 2005 by two killers when he was waiting in line to vote in a polling station in Locri. The act was assumed to have political significance since the murderers killed him on a political occasion and with dozens of witnesses. The administration Fortugno was a part of had previously removed many administrators, and some saw this murder as an act of retribution from the 'Ndrangheta against Agazio Loiero's administration.

Results

59,816 poll stations

Candidate Votes %
Romano Prodi 3,182,686 74.1%
Fausto Bertinotti 631,592 14.7%
Clemente Mastella 196,014 4.6%
Antonio Di Pietro 142,143 3.3%
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio 95,388 2.2%
Ivan Scalfarotto 26,912 0.6%
Simona Panzino 19,752 0.5%
White ballots 7,583  
Invalid ballots 9,031  
Total 4,311,149 100.0%

Reactions

Most reactions on the centre-left were comprehensibly enthusiastic, especially because of the high number of participants. Clemente Mastella, however, accused the organization of rigging the election and having pre-printed ballots in favour of Prodi.

On the centre-right, two main attitudes were held: some respected or even hailed the election, others contested its validity and characterised them as propaganda.

Election results

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
2006 19,036,986 (#1) 49.8
348 / 630
–
 Romano Prodi
Senate of the Republic
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
2006 17,118,364 (#2) 49.2
158 / 315
–
Romano Prodi

Senate results for the Union

The Union
(L'Unione)
Party Votes % Seats Areas contested
Name Italy Abroad Italy Abroad Italy Abroad Italy Abroad
Democrats of the Left
(Democratici di Sinistra)		 5,977,313 17.17 62
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy
(Democrazia è Libertà - La Margherita)		 3,664,622 10.53 39
Communist Refoundation Party
(Partito della Rifondazione Comunista)		 2,518,624 7.24 27
Together with the Union
(Insieme con L'Unione)		 1,423,226 4.09 11
Italy of Values
(Italia dei Valori)		 986,046 26,134 2.97 4 0
Rose in the Fist
(Rosa nel Pugno)		 851,875 2.45 0
Union of Democrats for Europe
(UDEUR)		 476,938 1.37 3 0
Pensioners' Party
(Partito Pensionati)		 357,731 1.03 0
The Socialists
(I Socialisti)		 126,625 0.36 0
Lombard Autonomy League
(Lega Autonomia Lombarda) 		90,943 0.26 0
South Tyrolean People's Party
(Südtiroler Volkspartei)		 117,500 0.34 2
Consumers' List - Civic Duties - Christian Democracy
(Lista Consumatori - Doveri Civici - Democrazia Cristiana)		 72,139 0.21 1
The Olive Tree
(L'Ulivo) 		59,499 0.17 1
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
(Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano)		 57,339 0.16 0
European Republicans Movement
(Movimento Repubblicani Europei)		 51,001 0.15 0
Autonomy Liberty Democracy
(Autonomie Liberté Démocratie)		 32,553 0.09 1
Veneto Front League
(Liga Fronte Veneto)		 23,209 0.07 0
United Christians
(Cristiani Uniti)		 5,399 0.05 0
The Union-South Tyrolean People's Party
(L'Unione-Südtiroler Volkspartei) 		198,153 0.57 3
The Union
(L'Unione)		 27,629 387,145 0.07 44.00 0 4
Total 17,118,364 426,904 49.18 48.47 154 4

See also

References

  1. ↑ Daniele Albertazzi (24 June 2009). Resisting the Tide: Cultures of Opposition Under Berlusconi (2001-06). Continuum. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-8264-9291-3.
  2. ↑ Martin Bull; Martin Rhodes (31 October 2013). Italy - A Contested Polity. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-317-96809-2.
  3. ↑ Clodagh Brook; Charlotte Ross; Nina Rothenberg (24 June 2009). Resisting the Tide: Cultures of Opposition Under Berlusconi (2001-06). Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-8264-9291-3. Retrieved 24 August 2012.

External links

  1. Italian Opposition Holds Primary to Choose Berlusconi Challenger, Voice Of America (retrieved October 16, 2005)
  2. Italians Vote to Choose Berlusconi Challenger, The Epoch Times (retrieved October 16, 2005)
  3. Centre-left 'primary' huge success, ANSA (retrieved October 16, 2005)
  4. (Italian) Mastella: 'Fake primaries, ballot papers already prepared for Prodi', Repubblica.it (retrieved October 16, 2005)
  5. Italian politician killed at poll station, Virgin.net (retrieved October 16, 2005)
  6. Prodi wins Italian primary, CNN.com (retrieved October 17, 2005)
  7. Romano Prodi wins Italian primary, BBC News (retrieved October 17, 2005)
  8. L'Unione official website