The People of Freedom Il Popolo della Libertà | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Secretary | Angelino Alfano (2011–2013) |
| Coordinator |
|
| Spokesperson | Daniele Capezzone |
| Founded |
|
| Dissolved | 16 November 2013 |
| Merger of |
|
| Succeeded by | Forza Italia |
| Headquarters | Via dell'Umiltà 36 00187Rome |
| Newspaper |
|
| Student wing | National Student Movement |
| Youth wing | Young Italy |
| Membership(2011) | 1,150,000[1][2] (disputed)[3][4][5] |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism[6][7][8][9] Christian democracy[6] Liberalism[10] Conservatism[11] |
| Political position | Centre-right[8] |
| National affiliation | Centre-right coalition |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party |
| Colors | Azure |
| Anthem | Meno male che Silvio c'è[12] ("Thank goodness for Silvio") |
| Website | |
www | |
The People of Freedom (Italian:Il Popolo della Libertà,PdL) was acentre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched bySilvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, includingForza Italia andNational Alliance, on 27 February for the2008 Italian general election.[13] The list was later transformed into a party during a party congress on 27–29 March 2009. The party's leading members includedAngelino Alfano (national secretary),Renato Schifani,Renato Brunetta,Roberto Formigoni,Maurizio Sacconi,Maurizio Gasparri,Mariastella Gelmini,Antonio Martino,Giancarlo Galan,Maurizio Lupi,Gaetano Quagliariello,Daniela Santanchè,Sandro Bondi, andRaffaele Fitto.
The PdL formedItaly's government from 2008 to 2011 in coalition withLega Nord. After having supportedMario Monti'stechnocratic government in 2011–2012, the party was part ofEnrico Letta'sgovernment with theDemocratic Party,Civic Choice and theUnion of the Centre. Alfano functioned as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior. In June 2013, Berlusconi announcedForza Italia's revival and the PdL's transformation into a centre-right coalition.[14][15] On 16 November 2013, the PdL's national council voted to dissolve the party and start anew Forza Italia party; the assembly was deserted by a group of dissidents, led by Alfano, who had launched theNew Centre-Right the day before.[16]
In the run-up to the2006 Italian general election, there was talk among theHouse of Freedoms coalition's member parties on merging into a "united party of moderates and reformers".Forza Italia (FI),National Alliance (AN) and theUnion of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) all seemed interested in the project. Soon after the election, however, UDC leaderPier Ferdinando Casini, who had been a reluctant coalition partner, started to distance from its historical allies. Another party of the coalition,Lega Nord (LN), showed no interest in the idea, because of its character as a regionalist party.
On 2 December 2006, during a big rally of the centre-right inRome againstRomano Prodi'sgovernment,Silvio Berlusconi proposed the foundation of a "freedom party", stressing that centre-right voters were all part of a single "people of freedom". On 21 August 2007,Michela Brambilla, president of theClubs of Freedom (a grassroot group), registered the name and the symbol of the "Freedom Party" (Partito della Libertà) on Berlusconi's behalf,[17] but none of Berlusconi's allies seemed interested in joining such a party and some leading FI dignitaries looked disappointed.
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On 18 November 2007, Berlusconi claimed that his supporters had collected over 7 million signatures on an appeal demanding thePresident of the Republic,Giorgio Napolitano, to call a fresh general election. Shortly afterwards, from therunning board of a car in a crowded Piazza San Babila inMilan,[18] he announced that FI would soon merge or transform into a new "party of the Italian people".[19] The new course was thus called the "running board revolution" (rivoluzione del predellino) and this expression soon became very popular both among Berlusconi's supporters and his adversaries.[20][21]
At the beginning, the fate of FI remained unclear. Later, it was explained that the new party's core would consist of FI, theClubs of Freedom and other grassroots groups, and that some minor parties of the House of Freedoms would join too. AN leaderGianfranco Fini made very critical statements in the days after Berlusconi's announcement, declaring the end of his support for Berlusconi as candidate for Prime Minister and that his party would not join the new party. Also UDC leader Casini criticised the idea from the start and seemed interested in an alternative coalition with Fini.[22][23]
On 24 January, the Prodi II Cabinet fell as a result of the2008 Italian political crisis, paving the way for a new general election. The day after Berlusconi hinted that FI would probably contest its last election, and postponed the foundation of the new party until after the election. In an atmosphere of reconciliation with Fini, Berlusconi also stated that the new party could involve the participation of other parties.[24] On 8 February, Berlusconi and Fini agreed to form a joint list under the banner of The People of Freedom (PdL), in alliance with LN.[25]
In addition to Forza Italia and the National Alliance, several minor parties and groups chose to join the PdL: theClubs of Freedom ofMichela Vittoria Brambilla, theClubs of Good Government ofMarcello Dell'Utri, theLiberal Populars (a splinter group from theUDC) ofCarlo Giovanardi, theChristian Democracy for Autonomies ofGianfranco Rotondi, thePensioners' Party ofCarlo Fatuzzo,Liberal Reformers ofBenedetto Della Vedova, theItalian Republican Party ofFrancesco Nucara, theNew Italian Socialist Party ofStefano Caldoro, theLiberal Democrats (a splinter group fromThe Daisy) ofDaniela Melchiorre,Decide! ofDaniele Capezzone,Italians in the World ofSergio De Gregorio,Social Action ofAlessandra Mussolini, the Libertarian Right (a splinter group fromThe Right) ofLuciano Buonocore and the Reformist Socialists ofDonato Robilotta.
In the2008 Italian general election, the PdL won 37.4% of the vote, getting elected 276deputies and 146senators and becoming the Italian largest party. The PdL was also the first party sinceChristian Democracy in the1979 Italian general election to get more than 35% of the popular vote.
On 27–29 March 2009, the new party held its first congress inRome and was officially founded. Berlusconi was elected president, whileSandro Bondi,Ignazio La Russa andDenis Verdini were appointed national coordinators,Maurizio Lupi organizational secretary andDaniele Capezzone spokesperson.
In the2009 European Parliament election in Italy, the party won 35.2% of the national vote, returning 29MEPs.[26]
In thebig round of regional elections of 2010, the PdL retainedLombardy withRoberto Formigoni (in coalition with LN), gainedLazio withRenata Polverini (a former leader of theGeneral Labour Union),Campania withStefano Caldoro (a leadingSocialist) andCalabria withGiuseppe Scopelliti (a former AN member). The PdL was also instrumental in the centre-right victories inVeneto andPiedmont, where two presidents of LN,Luca Zaia andRoberto Cota respectively, were elected.
Between 2009 and 2010,Gianfranco Fini, former leader of the conservative AN and president of theChamber of Deputies, became a vocal critic of the leadership of Berlusconi. Fini departed from party's majority line onstem cell research,end-of-life care,advance health care directive, andimmigration,[27][28][29] and he was a proponent of a more structured party organisation.[30][31] His criticism was aimed at the leadership style of Berlusconi, who tended to rely on his personal charisma to lead the party from the centre, and supported a lighter form of party, which in his mind was to be a movement-party active only at election times,[32] as the original FI and on some respects that ofpolitical parties in the United States.
Although someFiniani, such asItalo Bocchino,Carmelo Briguglio andFabio Granata, shared Fini's views on moral issues and immigration, many others, includingAndrea Ronchi andAdolfo Urso, were traditionalist. In fact mostFiniani wereSouthern conservatives who opposed Berlusconi's firm alliance with LN, federal reform andGiulio Tremonti's economic policy.[33][34] Fini made inroads among the liberal and centrist ranks of the former FI,[35] but he lost the support of most leading members of the former AN, notably includingIgnazio La Russa,Maurizio Gasparri andAltero Matteoli, who became close allies of Berlusconi.[36][37] Others, includingGianni Alemanno andAlfredo Mantovano, found common ground with the party's Christian democrats.[38]
On 15 April 2010, Bocchino launched an association namedGeneration Italy to better represent Fini's views within the party.[39] Five days later 52 MPs (39 deputies and 13 senators) signed a document in support of Fini and his theses, while other 74 MPs former members of AN, including La Russa, Gasparri, Matteoli andGiorgia Meloni, plus Alemanno, mayor of Rome, signed an alternative document in which they reasserted their loyalty to the party and Berlusconi.[40][41] On 22 April 2010, the national council of the PdL convened in Rome for the first time in a year. The conflict between Fini and Berlusconi was covered live on television. At the end of the day a resolution proposed by Berlusconi's loyalists was put before the assembly and approved almost unanimously.[42]
Following then, clashes between Fini and Berlusconi became even more frequent and reached their height in late July, when Fini questioned the morality of some party bigwigs under investigation.[43] On 29 July 2010, the executive committee released a document (voted by 33 members out of 37) in which Fini was described as "incompatible" with the political line of the PdL and unable to perform his job of President of the Chamber of Deputies in a neutral way. Berlusconi asked Fini to step down and the executive proposed the suspension from party membership of Bocchino, Briguglio and Granata, who had harshly criticised Berlusconi and accused some party members of criminal offences.[44] As response, Fini and his followers formed their own groups in both chambers under the name ofFuture and Freedom (FLI).[45][46][47][48]
It was soon clear that FLI would leave the PdL and become an independent party. On 7 November, during a convention inBastia Umbra, Fini asked Berlusconi to step down as Prime Minister and proposed a new government including theUnion of the Centre (UdC).[49] A few days later, the four FLI members in the government resigned.[50] On 14 December FLI voted against Berlusconi in a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies, a vote won by Berlusconi by 314 to 311.[51][52]
In May 2011 the party suffered a big blow in local elections. Particularly painful was the loss of Milan, Berlusconi's hometown and party stronghold, where the outgoing PdL mayorLetizia Moratti was defeated byGiuliano Pisapia, a left-wing independent close toNichi Vendola'sLeft Ecology Freedom party.[53]
In response to this and to crescent fibrillation within party ranks (especially amongScajoliani and ex-AN members),Angelino Alfano, then minister of Justice, was chosen as national secretary in charge of re-organising and renewing the party.[54] The appointment of 40-year-old Alfano, a formerChristian Democrat who had later been leader of FI inSicily, was unanimously approved by the party executive. However, economy ministerGiulio Tremonti expressed his concerns that the nominee would "make us lose votes in the North".[55] On 1 July the national council modified the party's constitution and Alfano was elected secretary with little opposition.[56]
Alfano led the party through a huge membership drive and, on 1 November, announced that more than one million individuals had joined the party.[57] He also drove the party in a Christian-democratic direction.[58] The factions which benefited most from the effort were those ofRoberto Formigoni (Network Italy),Ignazio La Russa (Protagonist Italy) andFranco Frattini (Liberamente). The Christian-democratization of the party and the perceived marginalisation of liberals and social democrats led some to leave the party. One of these,Carlo Vizzini, declared: "It seems to me that the PdL is set to become the Italian section of theEuropean People's Party [which already was]. I come from another tradition: I have been secretary of thePSDI and I was one of the founders of theParty of European Socialists. When I joined Forza Italia there wereLiberals,Socialists,Radicals. Now everything has changed."[59]
In the midst of theEuropean sovereign debt crisis, on 14 October, following calls byClaudio Scajola andGiuseppe Pisanu for a new government,[60][61] two deputies close to Scajola,Giustina Destro andFabio Gava, voted against Berlusconi during a vote of confidence and left the party altogether.[62] On 2 November, Destro and Gava, along withRoberto Antonione,Giorgio Stracquadanio,Isabella Bertolini andGiancarlo Pittelli (who had left the party along withSanto Versace in September), promoted an open letter in which they asked Berlusconi to step down.[63][64] Contextually, Antonione announced that he was leaving the party. In the following days three more deputies,Alessio Bonciani,Ida D'Ippolito andGabriella Carlucci, left to join the UdC.[65][66] In three months, the PdL had lost 15 deputies and 4 senators, including the 7 deputies and 3 senators who launchedForce of the South underGianfranco Micciché.[67]
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On 7 November 2011 Lega Nord's then-leaderUmberto Bossi proposedAngelino Alfano as Berlusconi's successor.[68] On 8 November, during a key vote on a financial statement in the Chamber was approved thanks to the abstention of opposition parties, but Berlusconi got just 308 votes, 8 short of an absolute majority.[69][70] Subsequently, Berlusconi announced that he intended to step down after the passage of the budget bill.[71] Days of turmoil followed. Not only the party was highly divided, but its numerous factions and groups were divided too. As the appointment ofMario Monti, an independent economist and formerEuropean Commissioner, looked very likely, some in the party wanted to support the new possible government (and some even wanted to join it), while others were resolutely against and preferred an early election instead. Alfano, in his capacity of secretary, had to mediate.[72]
Among the party's Christian democrats,Roberto Formigoni,Maurizio Lupi andRaffaele Fitto (Network Italy),Claudio Scajola (Christopher Columbus Foundation), andGiuseppe Pisanu (hencePisaniani) supported Monti, whileGianfranco Rotondi (Christian Democracy for Autonomies) andCarlo Giovanardi (Liberal Populars) did not. WithinLiberamente and among the party'sSocialists,Franco Frattini (who threatened to leave the party) andFabrizio Cicchitto were in favour, whileMariastella Gelmini,Paolo Romani,Maurizio Sacconi,Renato Brunetta and, covertly,Giulio Tremonti were against. The vast majority of ex-AN members (Ignazio La Russa,Maurizio Gasparri,Altero Matteoli,Giorgia Meloni, etc.) was against, while a minority (mainlyGianni Alemanno) was in favour.[2][70][73][74][75][76][77]
On 12 November Berlusconi finally tendered his resignation to PresidentGiorgio Napolitano. The executive of the PdL decided to support a government led by Monti under some conditions, the first being that it should not include politicians but only technocrats.[78][79][80] TheMonti Cabinet took office on 16 November. In the subsequent votes of confidence in the two houses of Parliament, the PdL voted largely for Monti. However, some party members, includingAntonio Martino, Gianfranco Rotondi andAlessandra Mussolini, deserted the party.[81][82] Subsequently, LN broke its ties with the PdL at the national level.[83]
After long deliberation, on 24 October 2012, Berlusconi finally announced that he would not run again for Prime Minister in the2013 Italian general election. In a written press release, the PdL leader also hinted that the party would select his successor through anopen primary on 16 December.[84][85]
Berlusconi, who praised Monti, seemed to aim at a new centre-right led by Monti and a PdL led by Alfano.[86] On 25 November eight candidates filed the required number of signature in support of their bid: Angelino Alfano,Giorgia Meloni,Giancarlo Galan (who renounced right after),Guido Crosetto,Daniela Santanchè,Michaela Biancofiore,Giampiero Samorì andAlessandro Cattaneo.[87] However, on 28 November, after Berlusconi had expressed doubts on its success, the primary was cancelled altogether.[88] On 6 December Alfano announced that Berlusconi would run again for Prime Minister.[89] As soon as 12 December Berlusconi backtracked and stated that if Monti were to run for Prime Minister as the leader of a united centre-right (including alsoLuca Cordero di Montezemolo'sFuture Italy) he would stand aside and support him.[90] The move appeased the pro-Monti majority of the party, while disappointing other party wings.[91][92][93]
On 16 December the centrist majority of the party, consisting of several leading factions (Liberamente,Network Italy,Reformism and Freedom,Liberal Populars,New Italy,FareItalia, etc.), rallied in Rome under the "Popular Italy" banner: in presence of Alfano, the bulk of the party expressed its support for Monti and Berlusconi.[94][95] On the very same day, a group of anti-Monti reformers, led by Crosetto and Meloni, organised a separate rally and espoused opposite views.[96] On 17 DecemberIgnazio La Russa announced he was leaving the PdL to form "National Centre-Right", aiming at representing not just anti-Monti right-wingers, but also the liberals and Christian democrats around Crosetto.[97] On 21 December La Russa's National Centre-Right and the groups around Crosetto and Meloni joined forces and formedBrothers of Italy.[98] To complete the picture of a highly fragmented centre-right, in the previous months there had already been two minor but significant splits from the PdL: on 3 OctoberGiulio Tremonti left to form theLabour and Freedom List, while on 22 November a group of MPs, led byIsabella Bertolini, formedFree Italy.[99][100]
In early January 2013, after Berlusconi had announced his return as party leader and Monti had refused to join forces with the PdL, the bulk of the party rallied again behind Berlusconi and just a few leading members, notably includingMario Mauro, left to join Monti'sCivic Choice party. Most of the centre-right was regrouped around the PdL, which took part to the February general election in coalition withLega Nord (including the Labour and Freedom List), Brothers of Italy,The Right,Great South (including theMovement for the Autonomies), thePensioners' Party, theModerates in Revolution andPopular Agreement.
In the election the PdL obtained 21.6% of the vote (−15.8% from 2008) and the coalition came just 0.3% short of the centre-left. After some inconclusive attempts byPier Luigi Bersani, leader of theDemocratic Party, to form a government, the PdL joinedEnrico Letta'sgovernment ofgrand coalition, providing five ministers, including Angelino Alfano who was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, two deputy ministers and several under-secretaries.
On 28 June 2013 Berlusconi announced the revival of the defunctForza Italia and the transformation of PdL into a centre-right coalition.[14][15][101]
On 1 August 2013 Berlusconi was convicted for tax evasion and sentenced to four years of imprisonment, the last three being automaticallypardoned.[102] On 18 September, when discussing the enactment of a related six-year public office ban, as required by the "Severino law", the Senate committee in charge of elections refused to endorse a PdL resolution relinquishing Berlusconi's ban, as both the PD and the M5S disagreed.[103] On the same day Berlusconi launched thenew Forza Italia (FI) and pledged to stay on as its leader in any case.[104] The would-be PdL coalition might include the new FI,Lega Nord and other parties. In fact, in disagreement with the new FI'sliberalism, some members led by former mayor of RomeGianni Alemanno, who left the PdL in October 2013,[105] might form aconservative party modelled on the lateNational Alliance (AN), along withBrothers of Italy and other minor right-wing parties, and eventually join the coalition.[106][107][108][109]
After months of bickering within the party between "doves", supporting Letta's government, and "hawks", very critical of it, on 28 September Berlusconi asked to the five ministers of the party (Angelino Alfano,Maurizio Lupi,Gaetano Quagliariello,Beatrice Lorenzin andNunzia De Girolamo) to resign from the government over a tax hike.[110] The ministers obeyed, but made clear that they dissented from the decision; Quagliariello and Lorenzin announced that they might not join the new FI, while Alfano described himself "differentlyberlusconiano".[111] The party's moderates, mainly Christian democrats as Alfano and Lupi (Roberto Formigoni,Carlo Giovanardi, etc.) and social democrats (Fabrizio Cicchitto,Maurizio Sacconi, etc.),[112][113] sided with the ministers, while the hawks led byDaniela Santanchè, most of whom liberals (Antonio Martino,Denis Verdini,Giancarlo Galan,Renato Brunetta,Sandro Bondi,Niccolò Ghedini,Daniele Capezzone, etc.), supported the exit from the government.[114]
On 2 October a confidence vote, called by Prime Minister Letta, revealed the division within party ranks, to the extent that around 70 PdL lawmakers were ready to split to support the government, in case Berlusconi and the party had decided not to do the same. Faced by this ultimatum, Berlusconi made a U-turn few minutes ahead of the vote and subsequently tried a reconciliation process within the party to avoid the split.[115] The outcome was a clear victory for the doves and the "ministerial faction" of the PdL, who continued to serve in the government.[116]Raffaele Fitto, Christian democrat and leader of the self-proclaimed "loyalists" (the party's mainstream, includingMariastella Gelmini,Mara Carfagna, etc.), supported by Galan and Bondi, announced his disagreement with Alfano's political line and proposed a congress to decide the party's positionment,[117] while the floor leaders,Maurizio Gasparri,Altero Matteoli,Paolo Romani and others came out as "mediators".[118][119]
On 25 October the PdL's executive committee voted to suspend all the party's activities and proposed the transformation of the current party into the new FI.[120] Consequently, all the leadership roles in the PdL were temporarily revoked and a national council was summoned for 16 November.[121] To approve the executive's proposal over the party's future, a 2/3 majority among voting delegates at the national council was required.[122]
On 16 November 2013 PdL was formally dissolved and replaced by the new FI, while a day earlier a group of dissidents, led by Alfano and including all five PdL ministers, had announced the formation of separate parliamentary groups, calledNew Centre-Right (NCD).[16]
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The PdL aimed at combining together the traditions of its two main predecessors,Forza Italia (FI) andNational Alliance (AN), as well as their smaller partners, among themLiberal Populars,Christian Democracy for Autonomies,New Italian Socialist Party,Liberal Reformers, andSocial Action. FI, launched in 1994 bySilvio Berlusconi, was joined mainly by formerChristian Democrats,Socialists, andLiberals who had seen their parties disappear amid theTangentopoli scandals. AN, successor of the post-fascistItalian Social Movement (MSI), had become a respectable conservative party under the leadership ofGianfranco Fini. FI and AN started to cooperate and were the pillars of the centre-rightPole of Good Government,Pole of Freedoms andHouse of Freedoms coalitions. The "Charter of Values" of the PdL underlined the "Christian" and "liberal" character of the party, presenting it as a defender of traditional values as well as of individual responsibility and self-determination. The document stressed the adherence of the party to the values and the platform of theEuropean People's Party (EPP), its support forEuropean integration and the transformation of Italy into afederal state.[123][independent source needed]
The PdL was a classic example ofcatch-all party. The party's main cultural strains wereChristian democracy andliberal conservatism,[6] but it is not to be underestimated the weight of those coming from the right-wing AN and the relevant role played by former Socialists, who were disproportionately represented inBerlusconi IV Cabinet. Four leading ministers (Giulio Tremonti,Franco Frattini,Maurizio Sacconi, andRenato Brunetta) hailed from the oldPSI, while another Socialist,Fabrizio Cicchitto, was the party leader in the Chamber of Deputies.[124][125] This is not to say that all former Socialists were actually social democrats; for instance, while Tremonti was an outspoken critic ofglobalisation[126] and is not enthusiastic aboutlabour market flexibility,[127] Brunetta was a free-market liberal[128][129] and frequently clashed with Tremonti over economic and fiscal policy.[130][131] Moreover, internal alliances were often not consistent with the previous affiliation of party members. On issues such asend of life, Sacconi, a former Socialist who still claimed to be a social democrat, sided with the party's Christian democrats and the social-conservative wing of the former AN, while several members hailing from the MSI found themselves in alliance with the liberal wing of the former FI. This is no surprise, as the late MSI also had a strongsecular tradition, while FI was home to both social conservatives and uncompromising social liberals. On the economy, ex-FI Tremonti was often at odds with ex-FI liberals likeAntonio Martino andBenedetto Della Vedova,[132][133] and was attacked byGiancarlo Galan for being a "socialist".[134]
Traditional values and thesocial market economy grew of importance in the rhetoric of the new party, partly replacing thesmall government andeconomic libertarian ideals expressed by FI. In this respect, Sacconi summarised the economic propositions of the PdL with the slogan "less state, more society";[135] however, in the PdL there was still some room forReaganomics, with Berlusconi often making the case for lower taxes and Tremonti forderegulation and againstred tape.[136][137][138]
The party was home to a wide range of factions, groups and associate parties, whose ideology ranged fromsocial democracy tonational conservatism. As of November 2011, the factions, listed by political ideology, were as follows:
A part from the above-mention factions, from 2013 four broad groupings were distinguishable:[118][139]
On 15 November, the day before the PdL's dissolution in the new FI, the "doves" left the party to form theNew Centre-Right party.
The PdL granted financial support to several minor parties of the centre-right. They contributed one million Euros to theLiberal Democrats whose deputies were elected on the PdL list in 2008, and left the government camp after some months but returned in April 2011. Other parties who received payments from PdL were theForce of the South (€300,000),Christian Democracy for Campania (€144,000),Social Action (€100,000),Christian Democracy for Autonomies (€96,000), theAlliance of the Centre (€80,000), theMovement of National Responsibility (€49,000) and theFederation of Christian Populars (€40,000).[140]
The PdL had its strongholds inSouthern Italy, especially inCampania,Apulia andSicily, but its power base included also two regions of theNorth,Lombardy andVeneto, where the party however suffered the competition ofLega Nord, which controlled the governorships ofPiedmont, Lombardy and Veneto. The regions governed by a PdL governor in 2013 were just four (Campania,Calabria,Abruzzo, andSardinia), far less than theDemocratic Party and its allies, which controlled twelve.
In the2008 Italian general election, the party scored over 40% in Campania (49.1%), in Sicily (46.6%), Apulia (45.6%),Lazio (43.5%), and Calabria (41.2%). In the2013 Italian general election, in which the PdL suffered a dramatic loss of votes, the party ran stronger in Campania (29.0%), Apulia (28.9%), and Sicily (26.5%).
The electoral results of the PdL in theregions of Italy are shown in the table below. As the party was launched in 2007, the electoral results from 1994 to 2006 refer to the combined result of the two main precursor parties,Forza Italia andNational Alliance.
| 1994 general | 1995 regional | 1996 general | 1999 European | 2000 regional | 2001 general | 2004 European | 2005 regional | 2006 general | 2008 general | 2009 European | 2010 regional | 2013 general | |
| Piedmont | 34.8 | 37.9 | 33.8 | 36.8 | 42.7 | 41.2 | 31.0 | 31.9 | 35.8 | 34.3 | 32.4 | 25.0 | 19.7 |
| Lombardy | 31.8 | 39.5 | 32.6 | 36.5 | 43.6 | 40.9 | 32.9 | 34.7 | 37.3 | 33.5 | 34.4 | 31.8 | 20.8 |
| Veneto | 31.4 | 34.7 | 28.8 | 34.3 | 40.2 | 40.5 | 33.6 | 30.8 | 35.8 | 27.4 | 29.3 | 24.7 | 18.7 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 25.5 | 28.5 | 26.6 | 29.0 | 32.6 | 33.5 | 28.2 | 27.1 | 28.8 | 28.6 | 27.4 | 24.6 | 16.3 |
| Tuscany | 27.3 | 32.2 | 30.1 | 30.4 | 35.2 | 34.7 | 28.7 | 27.9 | 29.5 | 31.6 | 31.4 | 27.1 | 17.5 |
| Lazio | 45.8 | 43.5 | 45.0 | 40.9 | 44.6 | 46.8 | 35.9 | 39.3 | 40.0 | 43.5 | 42.7 | 38.2[141] | 22.8 |
| Campania | 40.2 | 37.2 | 42.1 | 35.9 | 32.1 | 46.9 | 32.7 | 22.5 | 39.8 | 49.1 | 43.5 | 31.7 | 29.0 |
| Apulia | 27.3[142] | 41.1 | 42.5 | 40.7 | 44.2 | 45.4 | 36.4 | 38.9 | 40.5 | 45.6 | 43.2 | 31.1 | 28.9 |
| Calabria | 36.2 | 36.0 | 41.7 | 31.6 | 28.7 | 40.9 | 28.5 | 19.9 | 31.7 | 41.2 | 34.9 | 36.3[143] | 23.8 |
| Sicily | 47.6 | 31.2(1996) | 48.6 | 38.9 | 36.4(2001) | 47.4 | 36.0 | 29.8(2006) | 40.0 | 46.6 | 36.4 | 33.4(2008) | 26.5 |
| ITALY | 34.5 | - | 35.8 | 35.5 | - | 41.1 | 32.3 | - | 36.0 | 37.4 | 35.3 | - | 21.6 |
| Election | Leader | Chamber of Deputies | Senate of the Republic | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | ||
| 2008 | Silvio Berlusconi | 13,629,096 | 37.4 | 276 / 630 | New | 1st | 12,678,790 | 38.0 | 146 / 315 | New | 1st |
| 2013 | 7,332,667 | 21.6 | 98 / 630 |  178 | 3rd | 6,829,135 | 22.3 | 98 / 315 | 47 | 3rd | |
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Silvio Berlusconi | 10,807,794 | 35.3 | 29 / 72 | New | 1st |
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