In the early 1990s, a process was started, aimed at uniting left-wing and centre-left forces into a single political entity. This followed theTangentopoli corruption scandals, the end of the so-calledFirst Republic and the transformation of theItalian Communist Party (PCI) into theDemocratic Party of the Left (PDS).
The project of a Democratic Party was often mentioned by Prodi as the natural evolution of The Olive Tree and was bluntly envisioned byMichele Salvati, a former centrist deputy of the DS, in an appeal inIl Foglio newspaper in April 2013.[21] The termPartito Democratico was used for the first time in a formal context by the DL and DS members of theRegional Council ofVeneto, who chose to form a joint group named The Olive Tree – Venetian Democratic Party (L'Ulivo – Partito Democratico Veneto) in March 2007.[22]
The 2006 election result, anticipated by the 2005primary election in which over four million voters endorsed Prodi as candidate for prime minister, gave a push to the project of a unified centre-left party. Eight parties agreed to merge into the PD:
While the DL agreed to the merger with virtually no resistance, the DS experienced a more heated final congress. On 19 April 2007, approximately 75% of party members voted in support of the merger of the DS into the PD. The left-wing opposition, led byFabio Mussi, obtained just 15% of the support within the party. A third motion, presented byGavino Angius and supportive of the PD only within theParty of European Socialists (PES), obtained 10% of the vote. Both Mussi and Angius refused to join the PD and, following the congress, founded a new party calledDemocratic Left (SD).
On 22 May 2007, the organising committee of the nascent party was formed. It consisted of 45 members, mainly politicians from the two aforementioned major parties and the leaders of the other six minor parties. Also leading external figures such asGiuliano Amato,Marcello De Cecco,Gad Lerner,Carlo Petrini andTullia Zevi were included.[23] On 18 June, the committee decided the rules for the open election of the 2,400 members of the party's constituent assembly; each voter could choose between a number of lists, each of them associated with a candidate for secretary.
All candidates interested in running for the PD leadership had to be associated with one of the founding parties and present at least 2,000 valid signatures by 30 July 2007. A total of ten candidates officially registered their candidacy:Walter Veltroni,Rosy Bindi,Enrico Letta,Furio Colombo,Marco Pannella,Antonio Di Pietro,Mario Adinolfi,Pier Giorgio Gawronski,Jacopo Schettini,Lucio Cangini andAmerigo Rutigliano. Of these, Pannella and Di Pietro were rejected because of their involvement in external parties (theRadicals andItaly of Values respectively) whereas Cangini and Rutigliano did not manage to present the necessary 2,000 valid signatures for the 9 pm deadline and Colombo's candidacy was instead made into hiatus to give him 48 additional hours to integrate the required documentation. Colombo later decided to retire his candidacy citing his impossibility to fit with all the requirements.[24] All rejected candidates had the chance against the decision in 48 hours' time,[25] with Pannella and Rutigliano being the only two candidates to appeal.[26] Both were rejected on 3 August.[27]
On 14 October 2007, Veltroni was elected leader with about 75% of the national votes in anopen primary attended by over three million voters.[28] Veltroni was proclaimed secretary during a party's constituent assembly held inMilan on 28 October 2007.[29]
On 21 November, the new logo was unveiled. It depicts anolive branch and the acronym PD in colours reminiscent of theItalian tricolour flag (green, white and red). In the words ofErmete Realacci, green represents the ecologist and social-liberal cultures, white the Catholic solidarity and red the socialist and social democratic traditions.[30] The green-white-red idea was coined by Schettini during his campaign.
After the premature fall of theProdi II Cabinet in January 2008, the PD decided to form a less diverse coalition. The party invited the Radicals and theSocialist Party (PS) to join its lists, but only the Radicals accepted and formed an alliance with Italy of Values (IdV) which was set to join the PD after the election. The PD included many notable candidates and new faces in its lists andWalter Veltroni, who tried to present the PD as the party of the renewal in contrast both withSilvio Berlusconi and the previous centre-left government, ran an intense and modern campaign which led him to visit allprovinces of Italy, but that was not enough.
In the2008 general election on 13–14 April 2008, the PD–IdV coalition won 37.5% of the vote and was defeated by thecentre-right coalition, composed ofThe People of Freedom (PdL), theLega Nord and theMovement for Autonomy (46.8%). The PD was able to absorb some votes from the parties of the far-left as also IdV did, but lost voters to theUnion of the Centre (UdC), ending up with 33.2% of the vote, 217 deputies and 119 senators. After the election Veltroni, who was gratified by the result, formed ashadow cabinet. IdV, excited by its 4.4% which made it the fourth largest party in Parliament, refused to join both the Democratic groups and the shadow cabinet.
The early months after the election were a difficult time for the PD and Veltroni, whose leadership was weakened by the growing influence of internal factions because of the popularity of Berlusconi and the dramatic rise of IdV in opinion polls.[31] IdV became a strong competitor of the PD and the relations between the two parties became tense. In the2008 Abruzzo regional election, the PD was forced to support IdV candidateCarlo Costantini.[32] In October, Veltroni, who distanced from Di Pietro many times, declared that "on some issues he [Di Pietro] is distant from the democratic language of the centre-left".[33]
After a crushing defeat in the February 2009Sardinian regional election,Walter Veltroni resigned as party secretary. His deputyDario Franceschini took over as interim party secretary to guide the party toward the selection of a new stable leader.[34][35] Franceschini was elected by the party's national assembly with 1,047 votes out of 1,258. His only opponentArturo Parisi won a mere 92 votes.[34][35] Franceschini was the first formerChristian Democrat to lead the party.
The2009 European Parliament election was an important test for the PD. Prior to the election, the PD considered offering hospitality to the Socialist Party (PS) and theGreens in its lists, and proposed a similar pact toDemocratic Left (SD).[36] However, the Socialists, the Greens and Democratic Left decided instead to contest the election together as a new alliance calledLeft and Freedom which failed to achieve the 4% threshold required to return any MEPs, but damaged the PD, which gained 26.1% of the vote, returning 21 MEPs.
The national convention and a subsequent open primary were called for October,[37][38] with Franceschini,Pier Luigi Bersani andIgnazio Marino were running for the leadership,[39][40] while a fourth candidate, Rutigliano, was excluded because of lack of signatures.[41] In local conventions, a 56.4% of party members voted and Bersani was by far the most voted candidate with 55.1% of the vote, largely ahead of Franceschini (37.0%) and Marino (7.9%).[42] Three million people participated in the open primary on 25 October 2009; Bersani was elected new secretary of the party with about 53% of the vote, ahead of Franceschini with 34% and Marino with 13%. On 7 November, during the first meeting of the new national assembly, Bersani was declared secretary,Rosy Bindi was elected party president (withMarina Sereni andIvan Scalfarotto vice presidents),Enrico Letta deputy secretary andAntonio Misiani treasurer.[43][44]
In reaction to the election of Bersani, perceived by some moderates as an old-style social democrat,Francesco Rutelli (a long-time critic of the party's course) and other centrists and liberals within the PD left to form a new centrist party, namedAlliance for Italy (ApI).[45] Following March 2009, and especially after Bersani's victory, many deputies,[46] senators,[47] one MEP and several regional/local councillors[48] left the party to join the UdC, ApI and other minor parties. They included manyRutelliani and mostTeodems.
In September 2011, Bersani was invited byAntonio Di Pietro's IdV to take part to its annual late summer convention inVasto,Abruzzo. Bersani, who had been accused by Di Pietro of avoiding him to court the centre-right UdC,[49] proposed the formation of a New Olive Tree coalition comprising the PD, IdV and SEL.[50] The three party leaders agreed in what was soon dubbed the pact of Vasto.[51][52] The pact was broken after theresignation of Silvio Berlusconi asPrime Minister in November 2011, as the PD gave external support toMario Monti'stechnocratic government, along with the PdL and the UdC.[53][54]
A year after the pact of Vasto, the relations between the PD and IdV had become tense. IdV and its leader, Antonio Di Pietro, were thus excluded from the coalition talks led by Bersani. To these talks were instead invited SEL led byNichi Vendola and theItalian Socialist Party (PSI) led byRiccardo Nencini. The talks resulted on 13 October 2012 in the Pact of Democrats and Progressives (later known asItaly. Common Good) and produced the rules for the upcomingcentre-left primary election, during which the PD–SEL–PSI joint candidate for prime minister in the2013 general election would be selected.[55][56]
In the primary, the strongest challenge to Bersani was posed by a fellow Democrat, the 37-year-old mayor ofFlorenceMatteo Renzi, aliberal moderniser, who had officially launched his leadership bid on 13 September 2012 inVerona,Veneto.[57] Bersani launched his own bid on 14 October in his hometownBettola, north-westernEmilia.[58][59][60] Other candidates included Nichi Vendola (SEL),[61]Bruno Tabacci (ApI) andLaura Puppato (PD).[62]
In the2012 regional election,Rosario Crocetta (member of the PD) was elected president with 30.5% of the vote thanks to the support of the UdC, but the coalition failed to secure an outright majority in the Regional Assembly.[63][64] For the first time in 50 years, a left-wing politician had the chance to govern Sicily.
On 25 November, Bersani came ahead in the first round of the primary election with 44.9% of the vote, Renzi came second with 35.5%, followed by Vendola (15.6%), Puppato (2.6%) and Tabacci (1.4%). Bersani did better in theSouth while Renzi prevailed inTuscany,Umbria andMarche.[65] In the subsequent run-off, on 2 December, Bersani trounced Renzi 60.9% to 39.1% by winning in each and every single region but Tuscany, where Renzi won 54.9% of the vote. The PD secretary did particularly well inLazio (67.8%),Campania (69.4%),Apulia (71.4%),Basilicata (71.7%),Calabria (74.4%),Sicily (66.5%) andSardinia (73.5%).[66]
In the election, the PD and its coalition fared much worse than expected and according to pollsters predictions. The PD won just 25.4% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies (−8.0% from 2008) and thecentre-left coalition narrowly won the majority in the house over the centre-right coalition (29.5% to 29.3%). Even worse, in the Senate the PD and its allies failed to get an outright majority due to the rise of theFive Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-right's victory in key regions such asLombardy,Veneto,Campania,Apulia,Calabria andSicily (the centre-right was awarded of the majority premium in those regions, leaving the centre-left with just a handful of elects there). Consequently, the PD-led coalition was unable to govern alone because it lacked a majority in the Senate which has equal power to the Chamber. As a result, Bersani, who refused any agreement with the PdL and was rejected by the M5S, failed to form a government.
After an agreement with the centre-right parties, Bersani put forwardFranco Marini as his party'scandidate for President to succeed toGiorgio Napolitano on 17 April. However, Renzi, several Democratic delegates and SEL did not support Marini.[67] On 18 April, Marini received just 521 votes in the first ballot, short of the 672 needed,[68] as more than 200 centre-left delegates rebelled. On 19 April, the PD and SEL selectedRomano Prodi to be their candidate in the fourth ballot.[69] Despite his candidacy had received unanimous support among the two parties' delegates, Prodi obtained only 395 votes in the fourth ballot[68] as more than 100 centre-left electors did not vote for him.[70] After the vote, Prodi pulled out of the race and Bersani resigned as party secretary.[71] Bindi, the party's president, also resigned. The day after, Napolitano accepted to stand again for election and was re-elected President with the support of most parliamentary parties.
After Bersani's resignation from party secretary on 20 April 2013, the PD remained without a leader for two weeks. On 11 May 2013,Guglielmo Epifani was elected secretary at the national assembly of the party with 85.8% of vote. Epifani, secretary-general of theItalian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Italy's largest trade union, from 2002 to 2010, was the first formerSocialist to lead the party. Epifani's mission was to lead the party toward a national convention in October.[72]
A few weeks after Epifani's election as secretary, the PD had a success in the2013 local elections, winning in 69comuni (includingRome and all the other 14provincial capitals up for election) while the PdL won 22 and the M5S 1.[73]
The decision, on 9 November, that the PD would organise the next congress of theParty of European Socialists (PES) in Rome in early 2014, sparked protests among some of the party's Christian democrats, who opposed PES membership.[74]
Epifani was little more than a secretarypro tempore and in fact frequently repeated that he was not going to run for a full term as secretary in the leadership race that would take place in late 2013, saying that his candidacy would be a betrayal of his mandate.[75][76][77][78]
Four individuals filed their bid for becoming secretary, namelyMatteo Renzi,Pippo Civati,Gianni Cuperlo andGianni Pittella.[79]The leadership race started with voting by party members in local conventions (7–17 November). Renzi came first with 45.3%, followed by Cuperlo (39.4%), Civati (9.4%) and Pittella (5.8%).[80] The first three were admitted to the open primary.
On 8 December, Renzi, who won in all regions but was stronger in the Centre-North, trounced his opponents with 67.6% of the vote. Cuperlo, whose support was higher in the South, came second with 18.2% while Civati, whose message did well with northern urban and progressive voters, came third with 14.2%.[81] On 15 December, Renzi, whose executive included many young people and a majority of women,[82] was proclaimed secretary by the party's national assembly while Cuperlo was elected president as proposed by Renzi.[83]
On 20 January 2014, Cuperlo criticised the electoral reform proposed by Renzi in agreement with Berlusconi, but the proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the party's national board.[84] The day after the vote, Cuperlo resigned from president.[85] He was later replaced byMatteo Orfini, who hailed from the party's left-wing, but since then became more and more supportive of Renzi.
After frequent calls by Renzi for a new phase, the national board decided to put an end to Letta's government on 13 February and form a new one led by Renzi as the latter had proposed.[86][87] Subsequently, Renzi was sworn in as prime minister on 22 February at the head of an identical coalition.[88] On 28 February, the PD officially joined the PES as a full member,[89] ending a decade-long debate.
During Renzi's first year as prime minister, several MPs defected from other parties to join the PD. They comprised splinters from SEL (most of whom led byGennaro Migliore, seeFreedom and Rights), SC (notably includingStefania Giannini,Pietro Ichino andAndrea Romano) and the M5S. Consequently, the party increased its parliamentary numbers to 311 deputies and 114 senators by April 2015.[92][93] Otherwise,Sergio Cofferati,[94] Giuseppe Civati[95] andStefano Fassina[96] left. They were the first and most notable splinters among the ranks of the party's internal left, but several others followed either Civati (who launchedPossible) or Fassina (who launchedFuture to the Left andItalian Left) in the following months.[97] By May 2016, the PD's parliamentary numbers had gone down to 303 deputies and 114 senators.[92][93]
In local conventions, Renzi came first (66.7%), Orlando second (25.3%) and Emiliano third (8.0%). In the open primary on 30 April, Renzi won 69.2% of the vote as opposed to Orlando's 20.0% and Emiliano's 10.9%.[114][115] On 7 May, Renzi was sworn in as secretary again, withMaurizio Martina as deputy and Orfini was confirmed president.
In the election, the PD obtained its worst result ever: 18.7% of the vote, well behind the M5S (32.7%) and narrowly ahead of the Lega (17.4%). Following his party's defeat, Renzi resigned from secretary[116] and his deputy Martina started functioning as acting secretary.
After two months of negotiations and the refusal of the PD to join forces with the M5S,[117] the latter and the Lega formed agovernment under Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte, a M5S-proposed independent. Thus, the party returned to opposition after virtually seven years and experienced some internal turmoil as its internal factions started to re-position themselves in the new context. Both Gentiloni and Franceschini distanced from Renzi[118] whileCarlo Calenda, a former minister in Renzi's and Gentiloni's governments who had joined the party soon after the election,[119] proposed to merge the PD into a larger republican front.[120][121] However, according to several observers Renzi's grip over the party was still strong and he was still the PD's leader behind the scenes.[122][123]
In July,Maurizio Martina was elected secretary by the party's national assembly and a new leadership election was scheduled for the first semester of 2019.[124] On 17 November 2018, Martina resigned and the national assembly was dissolved, starting the electoral proceedings.[125]
During Martina's tenure, especially after a rally in Rome in September,[126] the party started to prepare for the leadership election.
Three major candidates, Martina,Nicola Zingaretti andRoberto Giachetti, plus a handful of minor ones, formally filed papers to run for secretary. Prior to that,Marco Minniti, minister of the Interior in the Gentiloni Cabinet, had also launched his bid,[131][132] before renouncing in December[133][134] and supporting Zingaretti.[135] Zingaretti won the first round by receiving 47.4% of the vote among party members in local conventions. He, along with Martina and Giachetti, qualified for the primary election, to be held on 3 March. In the event, Zingaretti was elected secretary, exceeding expectations and winning 66.0% of the vote while Martina and Giachetti won 22.0% and 12.0%, respectively.[136][137]
Zingaretti was officially appointed by the national assembly, on 17 March.[138] On the same day, former Prime Minister Gentiloni was elected as the party's new president.[139] A month later, Zingaretti appointedAndrea Orlando andPaola De Micheli as deputy secretaries.[140]
In the run-up to the2019 European Parliament election Zingaretti presented a special logo including a large reference to "We Are Europeans" and the symbol of the PES. Additionally, the party forged an alliance withArticle One.[141] In the election, the PD garnered 22.7% of the vote, finishing second after the League.[142] Calenda was the most voted candidate of the party.[143]
In August 2019 tensions grew within Conte's government coalition, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister Conte by the League.[145] After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S,[146] based on pro-Europeanism,green economy,sustainable development, fight againsteconomic inequality and a new immigration policy.[147] The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government,[148] and on 29 August President Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so.[149] Disappointed by the party's decision to form a government with the M5S, Calenda decided to leave and establish We Are Europeans as an independent party.[150]
On 18 September, Renzi, who had been one of the earliest supporters of a M5S–PD pact in August,[154] left the PD and established a new centrist party namedItalia Viva (IV).[155] 24 deputies and 13 senators (including Renzi) left.[156] However, not all supporters of Renzi followed him in the split: while theAlways Forward andBack to the Future factions mostly followed him, most members ofReformist Base remained in the party.[157] Other MPs and one MEP joined IV afterwards.
From 15 to 17 November, the party held a three-days convention inBologna, namedTutta un'altra storia ("A whole different story"), with the aim of presenting party's proposals for the 2020s decade.[158] The convention was characterised by a strongleftward move, stressing a strong distance from liberal and centrist policies promoted under Renzi's leadership.[159] Some newspapers, likeLa Stampa, compared Zingaretti's new policies toJeremy Corbyn's.[160] On 17 November the party's national assembly approved the new party's statute, featuring the separation between the roles of party secretary and candidate for prime minister.[161]
Starting from November 2019, the grassrootsSardines movement began in the region ofEmilia-Romagna, aimed at contrasting the rise of right-wing populism and the League in the region. The movement endorsed the PD's candidateStefano Bonaccini in theupcoming Emilia-Romagna regional election.[162] In the next months the movement grew to a national level. On 26 January Bonaccini was re-elected with 51.4% of the vote. On the same day, in theCalabrian regional election, the centre-left candidate supported by the PD lost to the centre-right candidateJole Santelli, who won with 55.3% of the vote.[163]
In February 2020 the party's national assembly unanimously elected its new president,Valentina Cuppi, mayor ofMarzabotto.[164]
In the September2020 regional elections the party lost Marche to the centre-right, but held Tuscany, Campania and Apulia.[165]
On 13 January 2021, Renzi's IV withdrew its support for the second Conte cabinet, triggering the2021 Italian government crisis.[166] The government won motions of confidence in both chambers of Parliament, but still lacked an overall majority, leading to Conte's resignation.[167] In resulting discussions, Zingaretti and the PD pushed for Conte to be reappointed prime minister.[168] They participated in negotiations with the M5S, IV, and LeU, from 30 January to 2 February, but IV ultimately rejected the option of a renewed coalition.[169] President Mattarella then appointedMario Draghi to form a cabinet,[170] which won support from the League andForza Italia (FI) on 10 February.[171] The PD's national board voted unanimously to join the new government on 11 February.[172] Later that day, the M5S also agreed to support the cabinet in an online referendum.[173] The PD had three ministers in theDraghi Cabinet:Lorenzo Guerini, who remainedMinister of Defence;Andrea Orlando, the newMinister of Labour and Social Policies; andDario Franceschini, who retained a modifiedMinister of Culture portfolio.[174]
In the midst of the formation of Draghi's government, Zingaretti was heavily criticised by the party's minority for his management of the crisis and strenuous support to Conte. On 4 March, after weeks of internal turmoil, Zingaretti announced his resignation as secretary, stating that he was "ashamed of the power struggles" within the party.[175] In the next days, many prominent members of the PD, including Zingaretti himself, but also former Prime Minister Gentiloni, former party secretary Franceschini and President of Emilia-Romagna Bonaccini, publicly asked former Prime MinisterEnrico Letta to become the new leader of the party.[176][177] Following an initial reluctancy, Letta stated that he needed a few days to evaluate the option.[178] On 12 March, he officially accepted his candidacy as new party's leader.[179][180] On 14 March, the national assembly of the PD elected Letta secretary with 860 votes in favour, 2 against and 4 abstentions.[181]
In October 2021, Letta won theby-election for theSiena district with 49.9% of votes, returning to the Parliament after six years.[187] In the concurrentlocal elections, the PD and its allies won municipal elections inMilan,Bologna,Naples,Rome,Turin and many other major cities across the country.[188]
In July 2022 the M5S did not participate in a Senate's confidence vote on a government bill. Prime Minister Draghi offered his resignation, which was rejected by President Mattarella.[189] After a few days, Draghi sought a confidence vote again to secure the government majority supporting his cabinet, while rejecting the proposal put forward by Lega and FI of a new government without the M5S.[190] In that occasion, the M5S, Lega, FI and FdI did not participate in the vote.[191] Consequently, Draghi tendered his final resignation to President Mattarella, who dissolved the houses of Parliament, leading to the 2022 general election.[192][193] The event led the party to terminate the alliance with the M5S.[194]
In the election the PD obtained 19.1% of the vote and the centre-left coalition lost to the centre-right coalition, whose leaderGiorgia Meloni went on to form agovernment. Consequently, Letta announced that he would step down from party secretary and that aleadership election would determine the party's new leader in 2023.[211]
Following the 2022 general election, the PD has consistently declined inopinion polls to a record low of 14.0% in January 2023, according to SWG.[212]
The 2023 leadership election scheduled for February 2023 was the final step of a "constituent" process for the PD, as the party amended its statute, updated its internal charters and refreshed its political platform, while welcoming individuals, minor parties and groups. Among minor parties, Article One, Solidary Democracy and theDemocratic Centre indicated their intent to merge into the PD. Outgoing secretary Letta and Article One leaderRoberto Speranza were chosen to lead the committee overseeing the process.[213][214] Former ministerPaola De Micheli was the first to announce her candidacy in late September,[215] but the two top contenders wereStefano Bonaccini,president of Emilia Romagna, andElly Schlein, Bonaccini's former vice president. Bonaccini was supported by most regional presidents and big-city mayors, plus the more moderate factions of the party, notably includingReformist Base,[216] while the more radical Schlein counted on the endorsement on most of the party's left and most bigwigs, including former leadersDario Franceschini[217] (despite most of his faction supporting Bonaccini)[218] andNicola Zingaretti.[219] A fourth candidate,Gianni Cuperlo, representing the traditional left-wing within the party, announced his bid just before Christmas.[220][221]
Bonaccini won the first round by receiving 52.9% of the vote among party members in local conventions, while Schlein came second with 34.9% and was the only one to qualify for the primary election, along with Bonaccini.[222][223] In the event, on 26 February, Schlein was surprisingly elected secretary, by defeating Bonaccini 53.8% to 46.2%.[224][225] Schlein was officially appointed by the national assembly, on 12 March. On the same day, as proposed by Schlein, Bonaccini was elected as the party's president.[226] In June 2023, during an assembly of delegates held in Naples, Article One was merged into the PD.[227]
In the2024 European Parliament election Schlein will lead the party in two constituencies, but refrained to add her name to the symbol, after internal opposition.[228] Bonaccini, philanthropistCecilia Strada and journalistLucia Annunziata will lead the party in the other three constituencies.[229] Other leading candidates includeGiorgio Gori,Matteo Ricci andAntonio Decaro (outgoing mayors ofBergamo,Pesaro andBari, respectively), as well as former party leader Zingaretti andMarco Tarquinio, a social-conservative and pacifist journalist.[230] The PD's share of the vote was 24.1%, with Decaro and Bonaccini being the most voted candidates and receiving far more preference votes than Schlein in their respective constituencies.[231]
There is also a debate on whether the PD is actually a social democratic party and to what extent. In 2009, Alfred Pfaller observed that the PD "has adopted a pronounced centrist-pragmatic position, trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of middle-class and working-class voters, but shying away from a determined pursuit of redistributive goals".[235] In 2016,Gianfranco Pasquino commented that "for almost all the leaders, militants and members of the PD, social democracy has never been part of their past nor should represent their political goal", adding that "its overall identity and perception are by no means those of a European-style social democratic party".[6] The party's economics policies acceptedeconomic liberal elements under Renzi's leadership, moving towards adopting more explicitlyneoliberal andmonetarist policies as a result of theThird Way philosophy adopted by European social democratic parties.[236][237]
While traditionally supporting thesocial integration of immigrants, the PD has adopted a more critical approach on the issue since 2017.[238][239] Inspired by Renzi, re-elected secretary in April, andMarco Minniti, interior minister since December 2016, the party promoted stricter policies regardingimmigration andpublic security.[240] These policies resulted in broad criticism from the left-wingDemocrats and Progressives (partners in government) as well as left-leaning intellectuals likeRoberto Saviano andGad Lerner.[241] In August, Lerner, who was among the founding members of the PD, left the party altogether due to its new immigration policies.[242]
It is not an easy task to include the trend represented byMatteo Renzi, whose supporters have been known as Big Bangers, Now!, or more frequentlyRenziani, in any of the categories above. The nature of Renzi'sprogressivism is a matter of debate and has been linked both toliberalism andpopulism.[244][245][246][247][248] According to Maria Teresa Meli ofCorriere della Sera, Renzi "pursues a precise model, borrowed from theLabour Party andBill Clinton'sDemocratic Party", comprising "a strange mix (for Italy) of liberal policies in the economic sphere and populism. This means that, on one side, he will attack the privileges of trade unions, especially of theCGIL, which defends only the already protected, while, on the other, he will sharply attack the vested powers, bankers,Confindustria and a certain type of capitalism ... ".[249] After Renzi led some of his followers out of the party and launched the alternativeItalia Viva party, a good chunk ofRenziani (especially those affiliated to Reformist Base and Liberal PD) remained in the PD. Other leading formerRenziani notably includeLorenzo Guerini,Graziano Delrio (party leader in the Chamber) andAndrea Marcucci (party leader in the Senate).
Matteo Renzi, a centrist who led the party in 2013–2018, wanted the party to join both the SI and the PES.[254][255][256] On 20 February 2014, the PD leadership applied for full membership of the PES.[257][258] In Renzi's view, the party would count more as a member of a major European party and within the PES it would join forces with alike parties such as the BritishLabour Party. On 28 February, the PD was welcomed as a full member into the PES.[89]
The PD includes several internal factions, most of which trace the previous allegiances of party members. Factions form different alliances depending on the issues and some party members have multiple factional allegiances.
Bersaniani andDalemiani: the social democratic groups around Bersani andMassimo D'Alema (who wants the PD to be a traditional centre-left party in the European social democratic tradition). D'Alema organised his faction asReformists and Democrats, welcoming also someLettiani and some Populars.
Teodem: a tiny Christian-democratic group representing the right-wing of the party on social issues, albeit being progressive on economic ones. Most Teodems, including their leaderPaola Binetti, left the PD in 2009–2010 to join the UdC or the ApI while others, led byLuigi Bobba, chose to stay.
Un-affiliated social liberals, social democrats and supporters of a broad alliance includingItaly of Values, theRadicals and the parties to the left of the PD. After the election, most of them joined Marino in an association namedChange Italy.
Olivists: followers ofRomano Prodi who want the party to be stuck in the tradition ofThe Olive Tree. The group was led byArturo Parisi and includes both Christian left exponents and social democrats. Most Olivists supported Bersani while Parisi endorsed Franceschini.
As of September the party's majority was composed of those who supported Bersani since the beginning (divided in five main factions:Bersaniani,Dalemiani,Lettiani,Bindiani and the party's left-wing) and AreaDem of Franceschini and Fassino. There were also two minority coalitions, namely Veltroni's Democratic Movement (Veltroniani, Fioroni's Populars, ex-Rutelliani,Democratic Ecologists and a majority ofLiberal PD members) andChange Italy ofIgnazio Marino.[264]
According toCorriere della Sera in November 2011, the party was divided mainly in three ideological camps battling for its soul:
Since November 2011, similar differences surfaced in the party overMonti Cabinet. While the party's right-wing, especially Liberal PD, was enthusiastic in its support, Fassina and other leftists, especially those linked to trade unions, were critical.[267][268][269][270] In February 2012, Fassina published a book in which he described his view as "neo-labourite humanism" and explained it in connection withCatholic social teaching, saying that his "neo-labourism" was designed to attract Catholic voters.[271] Once again, his opposition toeconomic liberalism was strongly criticised by the party's right-wing as well as byStefano Ceccanti, a leading Catholic in the party and supporter ofTony Blair'sNew Labour, who said that a leftist platformà la Fassina would never win back the Catholic vote in places likeVeneto.[272]
As the party performed below expectations, more Democrats started to look at Renzi, who had been defeated by Bersani in the2012 primary election to select the centre-left's candidate for prime minister.[274] In early September, two leading centrists, namely Franceschini and Fioroni (leaders of Democratic Area and The Populars), endorsed Renzi.[275] Two former leaders of theDemocrats of the Left, Veltroni and Fassino,[276] also decided to support Renzi while a third, D'Alema, endorsedGianni Cuperlo.[277]
The2014 European Parliament election gave a thumping 40.8% of the vote to the party which was the first Italian party to get more than 40% of the vote in a nationwide election since DC won 42.4% of the vote in the1958 general election. In 2014, the PD did better in Tuscany (56.6%), Emilia-Romagna (52.5%) and Umbria (49.2%), but made significant gains inLombardy (40.3%, +19.0% from 2009),Veneto (37.5%, +17.2%) and the South. The2018 general election was a major defeat for the party as it was reduced to 18.7% (Tuscany 29.6%).
The electoral results of the PD in the 10 most populated regions of Italy are shown in the table below and in the chart electoral results in Italy are shown.
^"Il Pd come la Dc? Le coincidenze e le differenze" (in Italian). Europa. 29 May 2014. Archived fromthe original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved27 July 2014.... il Pd ... continua a sostenere la tesi che la sua area di riferimento è la sinistra e il centro sinistra e non-un 'centro che guarda a sinistra' di degasperiana memoria.
^abGianfranco Pasquino (2016)."Italy". In Jean-Michel de Waele; Fabien Escalona; Mathieu Vieira (eds.).The Palgrave Handbook of Social Democracy in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 238.ISBN978-1-137-29380-0.
^abNordsieck, Wolfram (2018)."Italy".Parties and Elections in Europe.
^Carugati, Andrea (31 October 2015)."Il novembre caldo degli anti Renzi" [A hot November for anti-Renzi groups: Fassina and Sel join forces, and Civati officially launches his new party].HuffPost (in Italian).
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