Centre-right coalition (Italy)

Centre-right coalition
Coalizione di centro-destra
LeaderGiorgia Meloni
FounderSilvio Berlusconi
FoundedFebruary 1994
Political positionCentre-right to far-right
ColoursBlue
Chamber of Deputies
237 / 400
Senate of the Republic
114 / 200
European Parliament[a]
42 / 76
Regional Government
14 / 20
Regional Councils
476 / 897

  1. ^ Including Lega, FI, FdI.

The centre-right coalition (Italian: coalizione di centro-destra) is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994,[1] when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the Forza Italia party.[2][3][4] It has mostly competed with the centre-left coalition.[5][6] It is composed of right-leaning parties in the Italian political arena, which generally advocate tax reduction and oppose immigration, and in some cases are eurosceptic.[7]

In the 1994 Italian general election, under the leadership of Berlusconi, the centre-right ran with two coalitions, the Pole of Freedoms in Northern Italy and Tuscany (mainly Forza Italia and the Northern League), and the Pole of Good Government (mainly Forza Italia and National Alliance) in Central Italy and Southern Italy.[8][9] In the 1996 Italian general election, after the Northern League had left in late 1994, the centre-right coalition took the name of Pole for Freedoms. The Northern League returned in 2000, and the coalition was re-formed as the House of Freedoms; this lasted until 2008.[10]

After the fall of the second Prodi government and the 2008 Italian government crisis, the centre-right coalition won the subsequent snap election that was held in April. Since 2008, when Forza Italia and National Alliance merged into The People of Freedom, the coalition has not had official names. A new Forza Italia was formed in late 2013, after the inconclusive 2013 Italian general election that was held earlier that year. For the 2018 Italian general election, it joined forces with Matteo Salvini's Northern League and Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy and a collection of mainly centrist forces named Us with ItalyUnion of the Centre.

In 2018, the renamed and rebranded League formed a coalition government with the Five Star Movement and without its centre-right allies, which entered the opposition. This led to a deterioration of the centre-right coalition at a national level, which remained active at a local and regional level. In October 2019, Salvini sought to unite the coalition.[11][12] This internal crisis further intensified when Forza Italia and the League joined the national unity government of Mario Draghi, while Brothers of Italy remained at the opposition.

During the 2022 Italian general election in September, which was caused by the 2022 Italian government crisis that July, the centre-right coalition re-united and obtained a decisive victory by securing the absolute majority of seats in both chambers. Brothers of Italy emerged as the first party by surpassing the League and gained six million votes in four years. This was the first time the centre-right had won a majority of seats since the 2008 Italian general election.

  1. ^ "Le grandi campagne elettorali raccontate da YouTrend: Berlusconi 1994". YouTrend (in Italian). April 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  2. ^ Quaglia, Lucia (July 2005). "The Right and Europe in Italy: An Ambivalent Relationship". South European Society and Politics. 10 (2): 281–295. doi:10.1080/13608740500134978. S2CID 155050325.
  3. ^ Fella, Stefano; Ruzza, Carlo (March 2013). "Populism and the Fall of the Centre-Right in Italy: The End of the Berlusconi Model or a New Beginning?". Journal of Contemporary European Studies. 21 (1): 38–52. doi:10.1080/14782804.2013.766475. S2CID 153754762.
  4. ^ Conti, Nicolò; Cotta, Maurizio; Verzichelli, Luca (2016). "The Economic Crisis and its Effects on the Attitudes of Italian Political Elites Towards the EU". Historical Social Research. 41 (4): 129–149. doi:10.12759/hsr.41.2016.4.129-149. ISSN 0172-6404.
  5. ^ Squires, Nick (6 November 2017). "Berlusconi is back after centre-Right sweeps to victory in Sicily elections". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ^ Momigliano, Anna (5 March 2018). "League's Salvini: Center right ready to run Italy". Politico. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  7. ^ The Entry of the M5S and the Reshaping of Party Politics in Italy (2008–2018)
  8. ^ Mark Donovan (2004). "The Italian State: No Longer Catholic, no Longer Christian". In Zsolt Enyedi; John T.S. Madeley (eds.). Church and State in Contemporary Europe. Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-135-76141-7.
  9. ^ Andrej Zaslove (2011). The Re-invention of the European Radical Right: Populism, Regionalism, and the Italian Lega Nord. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-7735-3851-1.
  10. ^ Vittorio Vandelli (2014). 1994–2014 Berlusconi's new ventennio. Vittorio Vandelli. p. 189. ISBN 978-605-03-2890-5.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ AFP (20 October 2019). "Salvini seeks to unite Italian right with Rome rally". The Local. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Italy's far-right leader Salvini pledges return to power at Rome rally". Deutsche Welle. 20 October 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2023.

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