Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy

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Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy
Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita

Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (Italian: Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (La Margherita), was a centrist[7][8][9] political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within the centre-left coalition: the Italian People's Party, The Democrats and Italian Renewal.[9] The party president and leader was Francesco Rutelli, former mayor of Rome and prime ministerial candidate during the 2001 general election for The Olive Tree coalition, within which The Daisy electoral list won 14.5% of the national vote.

The Daisy became a single party in February 2002. It was set up by former left-leaning Christian Democrats,[10][11][12] centrists,[13] social-liberals[12] (former Liberals and former Republicans), as well as other left-wing politicians from the former Italian Socialist Party and Federation of the Greens.

On 14 October 2007, DL merged with the Democrats of the Left to form the Democratic Party (PD).

History

The idea of uniting the centrist components of

D'Alema I Cabinet. In 1999 splinters of PPI, UD and other groups formed The Democrats
(Dem).

Between 1998 and 2000, there were several precursors of such idea at the regional and local level in Northeast Italy, notably the Reformist Popular Centre in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Daisy Civic List in Trentino, the Autonomist Federation in Aosta Valley and Together for Veneto in Veneto. Initially some of these experiments were intended to include both Christian-inspired parties and secular ones, such as SDI and PRI.[14] However, on 12 October 2000, only PPI, Dem, UDEUR and RI agreed to join forces with a joint list called "The Daisy" for the 2001 general election. The Daisy, led by Francesco Rutelli (who was also candidate for Prime Minister for the whole centre-left), won 14.5% of the vote, only two points less than the Democrats of the Left (DS).

Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy was established as a single party during the founding congress of Parma in March 2002. On that occasion the Italian People's Party, The Democrats and Italian Renewal merged to form the new party, while the UDEUR decided to remain separate.

In the

senators. The Olive Tree list, of which DL was a member since the 2004 European Parliament election, won 220 seats out of 630 in the Chamber of Deputies. On 14 October 2007, DL, DS and numerous minor parties merged to form the Democratic Party (PD), a unitary centre-left party in anticipation of a move to a two-party system.[7][3]

Ideology

Democracy Is Freedom was a

Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions
(CISL), the Catholic trade union.

After the 2004 European elections the new party decided not to become a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) or of the European People's Party, but founded the European Democratic Party (EDP) together with the Union for French Democracy. In the European Parliament, the EDP and ELDR Europarties established the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE).

In 2005, DL participated in the foundation of the Alliance of Democrats, a worldwide network of centrist parties, along with the New Democrat Coalition of the United States Democratic Party, the EDP member parties and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats.

Members

Leading members of the party included:

Factions

DL was mainly composed of four factions, the first three of them supporting Francesco Rutelli's leadership:

Popular support

The electoral results of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy in the 10 most populated regions of Italy are shown in the table below. As DL was founded in 2002, the electoral results from 1994 to 2001 refer to the combined result of the precursor parties.

The results of 1994 (general) refer to the combined result of PPI, Segni Pact and AD, those of 1994 to the combined result of PPI and Pact of Democrats (joint-list of Segni Pact and AD, including also SI), those of 1996 (general and Sicilian regional) to the combined result of the joint-list of PPI and UD and RI (whose list was composed of the Segni Pact and SI), those of 1999 (European) and 2000 (regional) to the combined result of PPI, Dem and RI, those of 2001 (general and Sicilian regional) the DL federation (comprising at the time PPI, Dem, UDEUR and RI).

From 2004 (European) the results refer to DL, formed by PPI, Dem and RI, after the defection of UDEUR. The result for the 2006 general election refers to the election for the Senate, indeed DL contested the election for the Chamber of Deputies in a joint list with Democrats of the Left.

1994 general 1995 regional 1996 general 1999 European 2000 regional 2001 general 2004 European 2005 regional 2006 general
Piedmont 13.1 9.7 9.7 11.3 7.9 15.1 with Ulivo 10.4 11.7
Lombardy 15.0 9.4 10.4 10.1 with Ulivo 15.1 with Ulivo with Ulivo 10.0
Veneto 21.1 15.0 13.3 12.7 13.7 14.9 with Ulivo with Ulivo 11.9
Emilia-Romagna 14.8 9.3 11.8 10.9 7.7 15.5 with Ulivo with Ulivo 9.4
Tuscany 15.7 6.4 10.0 9.1 6.9 13.4 with Ulivo with Ulivo 9.0
Lazio 14.4 6.0 10.0 11.9 9.6 16.1 with Ulivo with Ulivo 9.1
Campania 16.8 13.8 12.2 17.9 18.7 12.1 with Ulivo 16.0 12.8
Apulia 22.2[17] 13.6 8.9 16.7 13.7 16.1 with Ulivo 9.7 11.1
Calabria 19.8 15.1 11.0 18.0 13.4 10.7 with Ulivo 14.5 10.3
Sicily 14.2 12.3 (1996) 10.1 19.6 12.3 (2001) 13.9 with Ulivo 12.0 (2006) 11.8
ITALY 18.9 - 11.1 14.6 - 14.5 - - 10.5

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year Votes % Seats +/− Leader
2001 5,391,827 (3rd) 14.5
80 / 630
2006 with Ulivo
90 / 630
Increase 10
Senate of the Republic
Election year Votes % Seats +/− Leader
2001 with Ulivo
43 / 315
2006 3,664,622 (4th) 10.5
39 / 315
Decrease 4

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election year Votes % Seats +/− Leader
2004 with Ulivo
7 / 72

Leadership

An election campaign street stall for DL in Milan, 2004

See also

References

  1. ^ "Margherita al 20 per cento Rutelli garante dell' intesa – la Repubblica.it". Archivio – la Repubblica.it.
  2. ^ Corriere della Sera, 18 April 2007
  3. ^ .
  4. . Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ . Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  8. . Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  9. ^ . Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  10. . Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  11. . Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  12. ^ .
  13. . Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  14. . Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  15. .
  16. .
  17. ^ Forza Italia failed to present a list and thus some centre-right voters voted for PPI and Segni Pact.

External links