The Right La Destra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary | Francesco Storace |
| Vice Secretary | Nello Musumeci |
| Founded | 14 July 2007 |
| Dissolved | 18 February 2017 |
| Split from | National Alliance |
| Merged into | National Movement for Sovereignty |
| Headquarters | Via Sebastiano Conca 6,Rome |
| Newspaper | Il Giornale d'Italia (online) |
| Youth wing | Italian Youth |
| Ideology | Right-wing populism[1] Neo-fascism[2][3] National conservatism[4] |
| Political position | Far-right[5] |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| European Parliament group | Union for Europe of the Nations |
The Right (Italian:La Destra) was aneo-fascist andnational-conservative[4]political party in Italy. Its founder and leader wasFrancesco Storace.
On 3 July 2007 Storace announced his resignation fromNational Alliance (AN) in a letter posted on his website, claiming that AN had become toocentrist and moderate and in protest against the lack of internal democracy in the party, and on 27 July he announced the formation of a new party.
On 10 November the party was founded in a constituent congress inRome. On that occasion theSicilian Alliance ofNello Musumeci merged into The Right, andDaniela Santanchè, a leading female member of AN, left the party to join The Right,[6] broadening its appeal, as she was close to theItalian Liberal Party (PLI) and never joined theItalian Social Movement (MSI). In January 2008Unitalia, a minor party inSouth Tyrol, and Taverna List, a minor party in the province ofTrentino, merged into The Right.
As the party was organised as a federal structure, Unitalia and Taverna List became the provincial sections of the party in the Provinces ofSouth Tyrol and Trento, respectively, as Sicilian Alliance had become the regional section of the party inSicily.[7]
On 27 February 2008 it was announced that The Right would contest the2008 general election in alliance withTricolour Flame, outsideThe People of Freedom-ledcentre-right coalition, in a joint list known asThe Right–Tricolour Flame.[4] Daniela Santanchè was the candidate forPrime Minister of Italy, and leader of the joint list between the two parties.
On 18 January 2008Giancarlo Pagliarini joined the party. Pagliarini is alibertarian and keenfiscal federalist who was a leading member of Lega Nord from 1991 to 2007 and was close to the independentist wing of the party.[8] He headed the coalition list inLombardy for the Senate.
Despite several well-known candidates, the party gained only 2.4% and thus failed to surpass the 4% threshold for entering the Chamber of Deputies. Also Storace, who topped the list in his home-regionLazio, failed re-election, as the coalition stopped at 3.2%, five points below the 8% regional threshold.[9]
On 20 July 2008, during a party convention, Storace resigned from party leadership, opening way for a national congress and a leadership election.[10] This election would also decide the party's electoral strategy, choosing either to continue an independent path or to joinThe People of Freedom (PdL) ofSilvio Berlusconi. Storace favoured the first option, while Santanchè favoured an alliance with Berlusconi.[11] Storace would continue to be party secretary at least until the November congress and after if party members decided so.[12]
On 22 August 2008 Santanchè presented her candidacy for the party leadership, competing against Storace, who would stand again as candidate.[13] However, on 28 September, Santanché resigned as spokesperson and from the party, opening the possibility for a more consensual congress.[14] On 9 November Storace was re-elected secretary during a party congress. On that occasion he remarked that he did not exclude a future alliance with PdL.[15]
In October 2008 the party suffered another split led byStefano Morselli, who launchedFederal Right,[16] andPaolo Casolari, journalist, one of the founders and head of the party in Emilia-Romagna. In November Santanchè launched herMovement for Italy.[17] Both parties were expected to join PdL, while a third party resulting from the split,Libertarian Right led byLuciano Buonocore, joined it.[18]
In the2009 European Parliament election the party ran as part ofThe Autonomy, an alliance including theMovement for the Autonomies, thePensioners' Party and theAlliance of the Centre,[19][20] gaining 2.2% of the vote, resulting in no seats in the European Parliament. For the 2010 regional elections Storace signed a national pact with the PdL under which The Right supported PdL orLega Nord candidates for President in all 13 regions where an election took place.[21]
In the2012 Sicilian regional election,Nello Musumeci ran for President for thecentre-right coalition, but lost toRosario Crocetta of theDemocratic Party.[22]
In the2013 general election, held in February 2013, the party obtained 0.7% of the vote, gaining no seats.[23]
On the occasion of the2014 European Parliament election The Right supported the candidates ofForza Italia.[24]
On 18 February 2017 the Right, together withNational Action, merged into the new party calledNational Movement for Sovereignty.[25]
The party defined itself the party of the "social, national and popular right" and promoting patriotism,Catholic values and national cohesion. Among other things, The Right was strongly supportive ofdirect democracy and ofpresidentialism. Its economic policy was a mixture ofstatism, such the strong support for thewelfare state and the introduction of the so-called "social loan" (mutuo sociale) for young people to enable them to purchase a house, and oflibertarian proposals, such as the introduction of theflat tax andfiscal federalism.
Party leaderFrancesco Storace maintained that his party had nothing to do with the far right and instead he says to take inspiration fromIndro Montanelli, a conservative-liberal journalist and editor ofIl Giornale who declared "I am a right-winger, but this is not the right-wing I dreamt of". Although the party distanced itself fromThe People of Freedom, it also rejected any alliance with the parties of the far right, such asNew Force andTricolour Flame, with which it had formed a joint list for the2008 general election.[26]
The party in 2007–2008 had 7 MPs: 4 deputies (Teodoro Buontempo,Antonio Pezzella,Roberto Salerno andDaniela Santanchè) and 3 senators (Stefano Losurdo,Stefano Morselli and Francesco Storace himself). Leading members of the new party includeNello Musumeci, MEP,Paolo Danieli andMichele Florino, both former senators,Alberto Arrighi, former editor ofArea (the journal ofSocial Right, a faction of AN),Paolo Agostinacchio, former mayor ofFoggia, andNuccio Carrara (former under-secretary for Reforms in Berlusconi's governments).
The first opinion poll after the announcement of Storace put The Right at 3.2%.[27] According to this survey, The Right may steal votes both from National Alliance and fromSocial Action,Alessandra Mussolini's party. Other polls have placed the party around 5%.[28]After the fall ofRomano Prodi government, The Right was placed at 3.3%.[29]
However, in the2008 general election, the party was damaged by its choice to run alone and won only 2.4% of the vote. In that occasion the party was particularly strong inCentral Italy: 3.6% inUmbria, 3.4% inLazio and theMarche.[30]
| Chamber of Deputies | ||||||
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats won | +/– | Leader | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 884,961 (#7) | 2.4 | 0 / 630 | – | ||
| 2013 | 219,816 (#11) | 0.6 | 0 / 630 | – | ||
| Senate of the Republic | |||||
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats won | +/– | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 686,926 (#7) | 2.1 | 0 / 315 | – | |
| 2013 | 221,112 (#10) | 0.7 | 0 / 315 | – | |
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats won | +/– | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 681,290 (#9) | 2.2 | 0 / 72 | – |
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