Misplaced Pages

#510489

80-552: The party ran in the 2006 general election under the "National Right" logo, obtaining only 1,093 preferences for the Chamber of Deputies. In 2006 National Alliance asked the Court of Florence to prevent the use of the acronym "MSI" and the historic Tricolour Flame at the New MSI of Gaetano Saya, Maria Antonietta Cannizzaro and Andrea Lucatorto. The judge upheld the party of Gianfranco Fini and

160-551: A social-democratic ideology and claims to be the successor to the historical Italian Socialist Party , which was disbanded after the judiciary tempest of the early 1990s (see Mani pulite ). The party was founded in 2001 as Socialist Party – New PSI ( Partito Socialista – Nuovo PSI ), during a founding congress in Milan , but after the 2007 split of the Socialist Party , headed by Gianni De Michelis and Mauro Del Bue , it took

240-453: A "unity towards left" within The Union and an immediate retirement from Berlusconi's government, challenged De Michelis, who instead asked the congress to delay the decision. De Michelis received support from Caldoro, Maroni and Battilocchio whereas Craxi was supported by Milioto, Crinò and Saverio Zavettieri , the powerful Calabrian leader of the party. At some point, De Michelis unrecognised

320-460: A clear competence to each of them; it gives more power to the regions, with several references to devolution , the main programme point of the Northern League , still guaranteeing, according to the new version of article 127, the national interest, which had been cancelled by the previous reform of the left. The Italian Constitution prescribes that both chambers must accept every modification to

400-423: A debate on national television. Prodi, however, said he would accept only if certain rules had been set. Possibly because he thought he was behind in the polls, Berlusconi saw the debate as a chance to turn the tables, and accused Prodi of fleeing from him. It is notable that, in the 2001 elections, it was Berlusconi who refused to meet the centre-left candidate, Francesco Rutelli . Two televised debates were set by

480-450: A final statement of 3 minutes. The first televised debate, held on 14 March, was broadcast live on Rai Uno , and moderated by Clemente Mimun, Director of TG1 . It featured questions from journalists Roberto Napoletano of Il Messaggero and Marcello Sorgi of La Stampa . It was watched by over 16 million people, a record for a political TV show . During his final speech, Berlusconi, who often overran his intervention times, attacked

560-463: A hypothetical movie, claiming he would be "perfect" for the role. When Berlusconi entered the Strasburg Parliament he was welcomed with posters in various languages addressing him as "Godfather of Europe", explicitly referring to Francis Ford Coppola 's cinematic series about the mafia , without respecting his high institutional role as EU Council president. Afterwards Mr Berlusconi exploded at

640-504: A large number of Italians, usually uninterested to politics, to cast a vote for the House of Freedoms. In July 2005, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi asked current PM Silvio Berlusconi about the opportunity for an early election for the first half of April 2006, in order to prevent a big political deadlock (the mandate of President Ciampi himself would be over in May 2006 and a newly elected government

720-536: A left-wing faction, led by Bobo Craxi , son of the late Bettino Craxi , who decided to immediately leave the House of Freedoms and unilaterally elected Craxi himself as new party leader. The NPSI contested the election with a joint list with the Christian Democracy for Autonomies . As for the candidate who led the coalition into the general election, Berlusconi experienced an actual loss of support from Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC), who asked for

800-512: A long discussion, the centre-left coalition released its official platform on 10 February 2006, and presented it to the public the next day. However, the Rose in the Fist refused to sign it in, because it did not explicitly include some issues, such as civil unions and LGBT rights . The platform has been criticised by the House of Freedoms because of its 281-page length. A reduced, more readable, version of

880-457: A much lighter way. Critics and opponents said that Berlusconi's willingness to have the law abolished were dictated by his almost complete control of 6 channels (his family holding company controls Mediaset , which broadcasts three national private channels, and controls indirectly, as Head of Government, the three RAI public broadcasting channels). In his latter government years, Berlusconi attempted to accelerate his desires; however UDC, who

SECTION 10

#1732851698511

960-463: A return of the electoral law to a proportional system (which would most likely favour them) and a primary election to formally decide the alliance's candidate for Prime Minister. When the party list representation system was restored (albeit a form very different from the UDC proposal) and Marco Follini, critic of several reforms imposed by Berlusconi on the whole coalition, resigned from the UDC secretaryship,

1040-424: A strong blow to Prodi. The second debate, moderated by Bruno Vespa , an Italian journalist and anchorman, was held on April 3 and broadcast live on Rai Uno, featuring questions from Napoletano and Sorgi (same journalists of the first debate). It was dominated by the economic proposals and was more intense, with much stronger tones between Prodi and Berlusconi. In this debate, Berlusconi had the possibility of making

1120-456: Is part of the Berlusconi government, declared several times its opposition to either abolish or change the par condicio law, with secretary Lorenzo Cesa, after his election as party leader, who pointed out his refusal of any change of the law. The law however did not prevent Berlusconi from using his TV channels of Mediaset , and even SMS via cellphones, to manage to get more votes. During

1200-462: The Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni fined twice his privately owned channels for violation of the par condicio law, the biggest fine to date (300,000 €). Before winning the 2001 general election and becoming Prime Minister of Italy , Berlusconi signed in a TV show a Contract with Italians , where he promised, if elected, to fulfil at least four of the five points included in it. One of

1280-462: The 1996 general election . Prodi's candidacy was confirmed by a national primary election, held on 16 October 2005. The former coalition was enlarged in order to cover the whole ensemble of Italian centre-left to left-wing factions. The Rose in the Fist was officially founded on 25 September 2005, when the Italian Radicals , a libertarian -influenced party, officially declared an alliance with

1360-447: The 2001 general election and Berlusconi appointed NPSI's Stefano Caldoro as Deputy Minister for Education in his government . In the election, the NPSI gained just 1.0% of the vote and had three deputies (Craxi, Vincenzo Milioto and Chiara Moroni ) and one senator ( Franco Crinò ) elected in single-seat constituencies. Secretary De Michelis and spokesperson Martelli were not elected since

1440-465: The 2008 general election , the NPSI got two deputies re-elected on the PdL list, namely Caldoro and Barani. In March 2009, the party was merged into the PdL, but it has retained some of its autonomy. In the 2010 Campania regional election , Caldoro was elected president by a landslide. Following his election, Caldoro was replaced as secretary by Barani. Caldoro was then elected president of the party. In 2013,

1520-549: The Italian Democratic Socialist Party . At its founding congress, the NPSI decided to enter the centre-right House of Freedoms (CdL) coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi (a former friend of Bettino Craxi ) as the centre-left was considered too compromised with the Mani pulite investigation, upon which the old Italian Socialist Party was disbanded while the ex Communists were not touched. The centre-right won

1600-496: The Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI) in the form of a confederation, with explicit references to the politics of Tony Blair , José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Loris Fortuna , an Italian politician in the 1970s who became famous for his laicist proposals, and is considered the father of the law on divorce. This confederation immediately caused a stir for not having signed the political platform of The Union, being

1680-518: The Parliamentary Committee of Inspection on RAI , which had the goal of ensuring equal treatment for the two political sides. However, Prodi contested the deliberation of this Committee, which allowed Berlusconi to also hold a final televised speech after the debates as Prime Minister. Prodi refused to participate in any debate until this final speech had been cancelled. The issue was resolved on 3 March, when Berlusconi finally agreed to cancel

SECTION 20

#1732851698511

1760-447: The 2001 general election. It was criticised as "vague" and "propaganda". The main points of the centre-right platform were: According to the opinion polls released, mainly commissioned for national newspapers, magazines and TV stations, The Union was clearly leading the race to the general election. The three surveys which show a majority of votes for the House of Freedoms were all commissioned by Berlusconi's party Forza Italia. Notably,

1840-504: The CdL lost 12 regions out of 14, forcing Berlusconi to reshuffle cabinet. In the new government , Caldoro was promoted minister. In October 2005, a national congress was held in Rome in order to deliberate the political line to be held by the party, particularly about electoral coalitions. During the congress, which was characterised by a heated atmosphere and several controversies, Craxi, who supported

1920-528: The European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and Prime Minister of Italy from 1996 to 1998. On the other hand, Silvio Berlusconi led the centre-right House of Freedoms ; Berlusconi had been the incumbent Prime Minister since the 2001 general election , and had previously served as Prime Minister also in 1994 and 1995. The House of Freedoms was the coalition supporting the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , and mainly included

2000-673: The Fist confederation, but instead reorganised itself in a single party, which however failed to get over the 2% of national votes. However, Bobo Craxi was able to enter in the Lower House, as he was one of the leading candidates for The Olive Tree in Lombardy . The Union is also supported by a number of minor parties and movements, although of those only the Pensioners' Party has any elected representation (1 Member of European Parliament). For some time, Silvio Berlusconi had challenged Romano Prodi to

2080-455: The House of Deputies while the candidate from New York City was elected to the Senate. Berlusconi claimed, in challenging the election results, that there were irregularities in the vote abroad. The result of the vote may have been influenced by the fact that numerous right-wing parties put forward candidates in the constituencies abroad, while there were few centre-left candidates, thereby splitting

2160-669: The House of Freedoms in the Chamber of Deputies , with 340 seats to 277, thanks to obtaining a majority bonus (actual votes were distributed 49.81% to 49.74%). One more seat is allied with The Union ( Aosta Valley ) and 7 more seats in the foreign constituency. The House of Freedoms had secured a slight majority of Senate seats elected within Italy (155 seats to 154), but The Union won 4 of the 6 seats allocated to voters outside Italy , giving them control of both chambers. On 19 April 2006, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that Prodi had indeed won

2240-489: The NPSI had actually two leaderships, which were elected in two separate congresses. On 24 June, Stefano Caldoro was elected secretary of the right-wing faction of the party while on 7–8 July Del Bue was elected secretary and De Michelis president by those NPSI members who wanted to take part to the foundation of the Socialist Party, whose first meeting took place on 14 July. In practical terms, there were two parties with

2320-475: The NPSI joined Forza Italia (FI), the new party born from the PdL's ashes. In 2015, Barani stepped down from secretary after having joined the Liberal Popular Alliance , formed by FI dissidents who wanted to explicitly support Matteo Renzi 's centre-left government . Following Barani's move, the party appointed Antonio Fasolino as coordinator, chose to cut its official ties with FI and launched

2400-586: The NPSI split among those who wanted to participate to the foundation of a joint Socialist Party along with the Italian Democratic Socialists of Enrico Boselli , The Italian Socialists of Bobo Craxi and the Association for the Rose in the Fist of Lanfranco Turci and those who wanted to maintain the allegiance to the House of Freedoms coalition. The first group was led by De Michelis, the latter by Caldoro. From some time,

2480-592: The NPSI, joined the Socialist constituent assembly promoted by Enrico Boselli , while the two MEPs elected with the NPSI in 2004, De Michelis and Battilocchio, joined the Socialist Group in the European Parliament . Since that moment, the only NPSI was that led by Caldoro, who announced that its party was interested in joining The People of Freedom (PdL) along with Forza Italia and National Alliance . At

New Italian Social Movement - Misplaced Pages Continue

2560-518: The NPSI, namely Lucio Barani and Del Bue. Two more candidates were elected as candidates of Forza Italia (Moroni and Giovanni Ricevuto ), but they abandoned the party in May, fearing that it was heading out of the centre-right coalition. Nonetheless, the NPSI and its two MPs formed a joint parliamentary group with the DCA comprising six MPs in total, which made it a minimal force in Parliament. In June 2007,

2640-638: The New MSI appealed, pointing out that AN "had abandoned its origins, effectively renouncing any political continuation with the formation of the MSI". In 2009, merging into the PdL , AN ceased to exist and was replaced by the National Alliance Foundation. Finally the Court of Appeal of Florence, after a decade of papers and lawyers, attributed the use of the Tricolour Flame to the New MSI. In 2009 Saya founded

2720-452: The New MSI. Scilipoti did not become a member of the New MSI, but opened to a collaboration with it. In 2017 Saya was arrested again (he had already been arrested in 2005 for the creation of a parallel police force) because of a cumulus of sentence judgments, after being researched since 2014. 2006 Italian general election Silvio Berlusconi Forza Italia Romano Prodi The Olive Tree The 2006 Italian general election

2800-541: The United States) protested frequently at this lack of political representation especially if they paid taxes on property owned in Italy. After numerous years of petitioning and fierce debate, the Italian Parliament, in late 2001, finally passed a constitutional law allowing Italian citizens living abroad to vote in elections in Italy by postal ballot. The change was the result of a thirty-year struggle to recognise

2880-517: The approval by the Chamber of Deputies, was done successfully in October 2004, but with less than two-thirds of the lower-house votes, making possible the confirmative referendum. The second favourable polling, in Senate, was done in March 2005, whereas the third one occurred on October 20. During the third polling, former UDC leader Marco Follini announced he would abstain from the final vote, not support anymore

2960-459: The centre-left, while what remained of the NPSI was merged into the centre-right PdL. From 2010 to 2015, party leader Caldoro served as President of Campania for the PdL. The party was later affiliated with the new Forza Italia . The party was founded on 19 January 2001 by the merger of the Socialist Party of Gianni De Michelis , the Socialist League of Bobo Craxi and former members of

3040-469: The centre-right vote. This tactical error may be explained through the novelty of the vote abroad. Italian citizens living outside of Italy have always had the De Jure right to vote in all referendums and elections being held in Italy (provided they had registered their residence abroad with their relevant consulate). However until late 2001, any citizen wishing to vote, was required to physically return to

3120-583: The city or town in Italy where he or she was registered on the electoral roll . The only exception to this rule was for the Italian elections to the european parliament in which voters could cast their ballot at their nearest consulate but only if they had their residence in one of the other 14 European Union nations. Until 2001 the Italian Republic offered citizens living abroad a free return train journey to their home town in Italy in order to vote, however

3200-461: The congress, declaring it had never been officially opened and abandoned it with all of his supporters. The remaining delegates thus elected Craxi secretary. Later, the Tribunal of Rome nullified the congress's outcome. Craxi's faction abandoned the party immediately after the sentence, was re-organised into The Italian Socialists and joined The Union. After winning the legal dispute for the symbol and

3280-427: The constitution twice within three months, and, if it passes with less than two thirds of the votes at the second scrutiny, a national referendum on the modification can be held (the reform will make it always possible to call such a referendum). Since the centre-left opposition opposed to the new constitutional reform, describing it as "dangerous", "separatist", and "antidemocratic", the first procedural step, that is,

New Italian Social Movement - Misplaced Pages Continue

3360-427: The constitutional reform, followed by his party fellow Bruno Tabacci . On November 17, the Senate approved the constitutional reform in its final instance; Northern League leader Umberto Bossi attended the discussion and the voting, returning to the Parliament, even if just as spectator, after his illness. During the vote, Domenico Fisichella announced his opposition to the reform, and his immediate resignation from

3440-414: The current name, under the leadership of Stefano Caldoro . Most of the party's members are former followers of Bettino Craxi , who was convicted for corruption and whom New Socialists often portray as a victim of political persecution. The NPSI has been a member of the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition for most of its history, as the Italian centre-left has been dominated by former communists ,

3520-441: The current political system: it reduces the number of MPs from about 950 to 750, it gives more power to the prime minister (no longer called president of the council), there will be no possibility to express a vote of no confidence against the prime minister without indicating his successor (similar to Germany 's constructive vote of no confidence ); it puts an end to the necessity of a law being approved by both Chambers, attributing

3600-447: The day after Romano Prodi had asked to vote for all elections the same day, in April. Berlusconi stated this was due to his fear that good government by centre-left mayors could favour the centre-left in the general election. Critics say holding all elections on the same day could save millions of euros in public expenditure. One of the main topics that was relevant for this general election

3680-444: The election day Berlusconi's channels aired a lot of messages to remind people who were watching his TV channels to use their vote together with spots saying "Mediaset gives you everything without asking for anything in return". While these spots didn't break the par condicio law, it was broken by some of the journalists (especially Emilio Fede , well known for his political ideas) of the Berlusconi's channels and in March and April 2006,

3760-426: The election, winning control of the Chamber of Deputies by only 24,755 votes out of more than 38 million votes cast, and winning 158 seats in the Senate to 156 for Berlusconi's coalition. Even so, Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, claiming unproven electoral fraud . During the election campaign, a political battle began between Romano Prodi , who led the centre-left coalition The Union and had been President of

3840-480: The elections. Prodi's The Union managed to secure 4 of the 6 Senate seats, while Berlusconi's Forza Italia and an Independent candidate each gained 1 of the remaining 2 seats, aiding Prodi in gaining a majority in the Italian Senate. In the House of Deputies, 7 seats went to The Union, 4 to Berlusconi's coalition, and one to an Independent candidate. In North America, candidates from Toronto and Chicago were elected to

3920-448: The exit polls) reducing the expected 5% gap between the coalition to a difference of about 0.1%. On Italian TV some tried to explain this discrepancy claiming that some House of Freedoms voters were ashamed to admit that they planned to vote for them. Others claimed that the last week of electoral campaign, dominated by Berlusconi's proposal of cutting ICI and by the media's insistence on the alleged new taxes advocated by The Union, persuaded

4000-688: The fact that he would reintroduce the inheritance tax only for the very rich people, and would not increase the taxes on treasury bills. A good friend of George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin , Berlusconi supported the American invasion of Iraq, and, during the Italian EU presidency, suggested to Chairman of the PES Group in the European Parliament Martin Schulz , during a talk, a role of kapo (concentration-camp inmate appointed as supervisor) for

4080-428: The final 3-minute statement: in this time, he delivered his "surprise blow" proposing the abolition of ICI, a local tax on real estate whose money belongs to local city councils. Later on, it turned out that Berlusconi's proposal was not completely agreed upon in the rest of the House of Freedoms, and Prodi, immediately after the debate, noted "about ICI, I want to know what the centre-right mayors think about". After

SECTION 50

#1732851698511

4160-410: The final speech. The debates lasted about 90 minutes each, did not include commercials , and had a preset time for each answer and each reply, and the obligation to film only the speaking person at any given time. The candidates were also forbidden to bring any kind of notes with them, even though they could write some down during the debate, and no audience was allowed to participate. This set of rules

4240-580: The highest result ever for the party. The party was denied membership of the Group of the Party of European Socialists and the two NPSI MEPs sat as Non-Inscrits . They eventually joined the Party of European Socialists in October 2007 as members of the newly formed Socialist Party (PS). At the 2005 regional elections , the NPSI ran its lists as part of the CdL. In Calabria, the party's stronghold, it received 5.4%. However,

4320-674: The insisting questions of MP Schulz. This diplomatic incident cooled down the Italy-Germany foreign relations for a period. Eventually a phone call between the Prime Minister and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder put an end to the dispute. In 2001 Berlusconi declared Western civilisation to be "superior to Islam", which he was very much criticised for. But in particular the international English-speaking press, such as Financial Times and Newsweek , criticized Berlusconi's work. Several times, before and after his election as prime minister,

4400-427: The leadership of the NPSI, De Michelis led the party into an alliance with Gianfranco Rotondi 's Christian Democracy for Autonomies (DCA) at the 2006 general election . The DCA-NPSI list gained a mere 0.7% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and 0.6% for the Senate. It still had six deputies elected because as the list that received more votes under the 2% threshold in its alliance, the CdL. Of these, two were of

4480-403: The left, alleging that Prodi would increase taxes if elected, pointing out the centre-left proposal to have a 5% cut of the tax wedge . Taxes became the main topic for the end of the electoral campaign, with Berlusconi citing Prodi would reintroduce the inheritance tax, abrogated in 2001, and increase the tax system on treasury bills (BOT, CCT) and would tax stockmarket trading. Prodi pointed out

4560-468: The main opponents of the Socialist Party led by Craxi (most of the Craxi's followers had earlier joined Forza Italia ). The NPSI defines itself as a " liberal socialist ", " reformist " and " anti-communist " party. The main leader of the party was Gianni De Michelis , who left the party in 2007 and was replaced by Stefano Caldoro . In 2007, several members also left to join the Socialist Party , allied with

4640-443: The main points regarded a tax break for income levels, whereas The Olive Tree policy was essentially to maintain a progressive taxation system. The generalised tax break was somewhat enacted in 2005, and included in the last Financial Measure. The opposition blamed Berlusconi for doing the tax break in one of the worst economic periods for the country, with no coverage for the resulting debt, and accused Berlusconi's allies of accepting

4720-455: The official political platform was released by the coalition, in order to answer the critics from the centre-right coalition. The main points of the centre-left platform were: The platform of the House of Freedoms was released on 25 February. It was 22 pages long, and it was defined as the continuance of the first five years of centre-right government. It is different by the contract with Italians (just five basic points) which characterised

4800-472: The only centre-left party not to do that; the Rose in the Fist, represented by Emma Bonino in the final platform meeting, in fact protested about insufficient mentions of social issues such as legalisation of civil unions . The Socialists , led by Bobo Craxi, who were the breakaway left wing of the New Italian Socialist Party which emerged the House of Freedoms, was supposed to join the Rose in

4880-622: The paramilitary wings of the party, the Italian National Guard ( Guardia Nazionale Italiana ) and the Black Patrols ( Ronde Nere ). For their creation, Saya and Cannizzaro were sentenced in first instance in 2012 to 11 and 5 months in prison respectively. In 2011 Saya proposed to Domenico Scilipoti , at the time leader of the Movement of National Responsibility , to become the Secretary of

SECTION 60

#1732851698511

4960-403: The party failed to pass the 4% threshold. At the 2004 European Parliament election , the NPSI formed an alliance with small social democratic movements and parties such as Socialist Unity , founded and headed by Claudio Signorile . The list, named United Socialists for Europe , gained 2.0% of the vote and two MEPs, De Michelis and Alessandro Battilocchio . In Calabria , the list gained 7.0%,

5040-441: The party, going against the party line about the issue. Italian MPs quite easily change party and even coalition: in the legislature between 1996 and 2001 15% of MPs did so. New Italian Socialist Party The New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI ( Italian : Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano or Nuovo PSI , NPSI ), more recently styled as Liberal Socialists – NPSI , is a political party in Italy which professes

5120-740: The portion of the train journey that was free of charge was only on Italian soil . Any costs incurred in getting from their place of residence abroad to the Italian border had to be covered by the citizen wanting to vote, therefore a free return train journey was hardly an incentive for the large Italian communities living as far away as in the United States , Argentina or Australia . For this reason very few Italians abroad made use of this right to vote, unless they lived in cities and towns that bordered to Italy such as in Germany, Switzerland, France and Austria. Various Italian minorities living abroad (notably in

5200-490: The possibility of a change of leadership inside the House of Freedoms was significantly reduced. On 27 October 2005, Lorenzo Cesa was appointed as new UDC secretary, becoming the successor of Follini himself. The coalition announced a "three-forwards" system, meaning that the Prime Ministerial candidate will be the political leader, among Casini, Fini and Berlusconi, whose party will win most votes. Since Berlusconi's party

5280-551: The presence in The Union of two communist parties, which had among their candidates anarchist activist Francesco Caruso and a transgender person , Vladimir Luxuria . The Olive Tree coalition, expression of the Italian centre-left, was expanded as The Union , and led for the election by former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission Romano Prodi , who had already beaten Berlusconi in

5360-415: The rights and special interests of Italians who have migrated abroad but retained their Italian identity . Italians wishing to excise this right must first register their residence abroad with their relevant consulate. During the last few months of 2004, the House of Freedoms coalition proposed a large reform of the current Italian Constitution, which was formulated in 1948. It proposes several changes to

5440-484: The rules of the debate, in his opinion too strict, whereas Prodi praised them, pointing out the fact that they are used in US debates this way, as well. Some observers commented that Berlusconi had been disappointing in this debate, scribbling nervously while he was talking and at a point confusing Iran and Iraq ; while all politicians claimed their candidate had won the debate, it was generally agreed that Berlusconi had not dealt

5520-522: The same name. After the split, both groups had a member in the Chamber of Deputies, namely Del Bue for the left-wing and Barani for the right-wing (led by Caldoro). Anyway, already on 23 June the two groups had acknowledged the irreconcilability of their political choices and agreed on a consensual separation: the group of Caldoro and Barani would be called Nuovo PSI , while the group of De Michelis and Del Bue would be called Partito Socialista . This second faction, that however continued to act on behalf of

5600-486: The same parties as in the previous general election. The New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI), a small social-democratic party composed of former members of the late Italian Socialist Party and led by former 1980s and 1990s minister Gianni De Michelis , which was part of the Berlusconi III Cabinet as a minister without portfolio , suffered a split on its last national congress (21 to 23 October 23, 2005), with

5680-506: The so-called "dual membership". Under this system, any NPSI member can contextually join another party, such as FI or the PSI. Caldoro remained with FI. In the 2018 general election , Battilocchio was elected to the Chamber from the single-seat constituency of Civitavecchia with the support of the centre-right coalition . After his election, Battilocchio, who was also a member of FI, joined FI's parliamentary group. Subsequently, in 2019, Barani

5760-451: The surveys of Penn, Schoen & Berland , a U.S. research firm, were commissioned by Berlusconi because he claimed the national surveys to be politically biased. According to the Italian par condicio law, it is forbidden to publish any opinion polling in the 15 days which precede the election (25 March, in this case). The final result (49.8% Union vs 49.7% House of Freedoms) was about 3% different from almost all polls (including all

5840-608: The tax break in return for better power positions; during the negotiations for the Financial Measure, the National Alliance leader, and, at that date, vice-premier, Gianfranco Fini , was moved to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and UDC leader Marco Follini, who had no ministerial role before that date, was chosen to replace Fini. In the electoral campaign, Berlusconi and the whole centre-right coalition almost daily criticised

5920-776: The weekly worldwide magazine The Economist accused Berlusconi of being essentially "unfit to lead Italy". For the first time in Italian history, Italian citizens living abroad were able to vote by postal ballot (without having to physically return to Italy to cast their vote) for 12 deputies and 6 senators who will represent them in the Italian Parliament, an unusual system that was supported by Silvio Berlusconi and promoted by Mirko Tremaglia. These parliamentary seats are organised into four constituencies (Europe, North & Central America, Latin America, and Africa/Asia/Oceania). Candidates must live in their respective constituencies. Forty-two percent of eligible voters abroad participated in

6000-482: Was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi , leader of the centre-left coalition The Union , narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms . Initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed. On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory; Berlusconi never conceded defeat and an ensuing dispute formed. Preliminary results showed The Union leading

6080-527: Was known to be by far the largest one, it was understood that Berlusconi was the actual candidate. One event which caused heavy criticism from the opposition was the support, sought and obtained by Berlusconi, of a number of fascist movements and parties, notably the Social Alternative of Alessandra Mussolini , granddaughter of the former dictator of Italy, and Luca Romagnoli , a holocaust denier . Supporters of Berlusconi responded to this pointing to

6160-462: Was not likely be in office within three weeks). Berlusconi however refused the deal, claiming he would stay in office until the due date of his term. But, on 18 October, Berlusconi announced that the election would be held on 9 April 2006, eventually following the suggestions from President Ciampi. Berlusconi also announced that the next administrative elections (which include the mayoral elections of Rome , Milan and Naples ) will be held in May,

6240-496: Was re-appointed secretary of the party. In the 2022 general election , Battilocchio was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies, while Caldoro failed to be elected to the Senate. Following this and Caldoro's exclusion from the Meloni government , the NPSI broke its alignment with FI, while continuing to support the government. In July 2023, the NPSI formed an agreement with the Union of

6320-497: Was the par condicio law. Its name, in Latin , means 'equal treatment'; a special law which guarantees all the main majority and opposition political forces to have equal media treatment, in terms of times and spaces, and, furthermore, denies political commercials for TV and radio outside some dedicated transmissions. Berlusconi had declared several times that he wants the par condicio law to be either repealed or at least changed in

6400-427: Was very unusual in Italian political talk shows, where politicians usually interrupt each other, talk simultaneously and for as long as they can hold the word. Questions to candidates are posted by two journalists from the Italian press: the moderator himself was not allowed to ask any questions, but only to present the debate and guarantee respect of the rules. At the end of the debates, the candidates are allowed to make

#510489