Democrats of the Left Democratici di Sinistra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary |
|
| President | Massimo D'Alema |
| Founded | 14 February 1998; 27 years ago (1998-02-14) |
| Dissolved | 14 October 2007; 18 years ago (2007-10-14) |
| Preceded by | Democratic Party of the Left |
| Merged into | Democratic Party |
| Headquarters | Via Palermo 12,Rome |
| Youth wing | Youth Left |
| Membership(2007) | 615,414[1] |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| National affiliation |
|
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament group | Party of European Socialists |
| International affiliation | Socialist International |
| Colors | Red |
TheDemocrats of the Left (Italian:Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was asocial-democratic political party in Italy.[2][3][4] Positioned on thecentre-left,[5] the DS, successor of theDemocratic Party of the Left (PDS) and theItalian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of the PDS with several minor parties. A member ofThe Olive Tree coalition, the DS was successively led byMassimo D'Alema,Walter Veltroni, andPiero Fassino, and merged withDemocracy is Freedom – The Daisy and a number of minor centre-left parties to form theDemocratic Party in October 2007.[6]
At its 20th congress in 1991, theItalian Communist Party (PCI) was transformed into theDemocratic Party of the Left (PDS), responding to theRevolutions of 1989 in eastern Europe by re-orienting the party towards the European democratic socialist tradition.[7] Under the leadership ofMassimo D'Alema, the PDS merged with some minor centre-left movements (Labour Federation,Social Christians,Republican Left,Movement of Unitarian Communists, Reformists for Europe, andDemocratic Federation) on 13 February 1998 to form the Democrats of the Left (DS).[8][9]
The DS' symbol lacked the hammer-and-sickle, which had featured in the PDS logo; it was replaced by the redrose of European social democracy as used by theParty of European Socialists (PES).Massimo D'Alema becamePrime Minister of Italy in October 1998, the first former Communist to hold the post.Walter Veltroni succeeded D'Alema as the leader of DS. During the party's first national congress in January 2000, Veltroni received the support of the 79.9% of delegates, while the left wing of the party, at the time led by three women (Anna Finocchiaro,Fulvia Bandoli, andPasqualina Napoletano), had the support of 20.1% of delegates.
During the party's second national congress in November 2001,Piero Fassino, a mainstream social-democrat, was elected secretary with 61.8% of party members' votes. In the event,Giovanni Berlinguer, endorsed by left-wingers, democratic socialists, and theItalian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) trade union, gained 34.1%, whileEnrico Morando, from the liberal right-wing, got 4.1%. Contextually, D'Alema was elected president. During the third national congress in February 2005, Fassino was re-elected with 79.0% of the vote. While no one stood against Fassino, left-wing candidates ran for congressional delegates: theDS Left – returning to win motion/list won 14.6% of the vote;DS Left for Socialism, 4.0%; and theEcologist Left, 2.4%.
In the2006 Italian general election, the DS endorsedRomano Prodi for Prime Minister and formed part ofThe Olive Treeelectoral list — along withDemocracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) and theEuropean Republicans Movement (MRE) — for theChamber of Deputies, while fielding its own list for theSenate of the Republic. The DS–DL–MRE joint list obtained 31.2% of the vote and 220 deputies, while the DS list won 17.2% and 62 senate seats. The party's dismal result and the razor-thin win ofThe Union coalition over the centre-rightHouse of Freedoms coalition prompted a discussion on the party's future. By the end of 2006, the party leaders had committed to a merger with DL. Nine Ministers of theProdi II Cabinet were affiliated to the DS, notably including D'Alema, who served asDeputy Prime Minister of Italy andItalian Minister of Foreign Affairs.Giorgio Napolitano, another DS member, was electedPresident of Italy in May 2006 and re-elected in April 2013 for a second term.
The party's fourth national congress took place from 19 to 21 April 2007. During local congresses, Fassino and his motion namedFor the Democratic Party, backed by most leading members (D'Alema,Pier Luigi Bersani, andAntonio Bassolino, among others), received the support of 75.6% of party members. The left wing ofFabio Mussi,Cesare Salvi,Fulvia Bandoli, andValdo Spini (To the Left. For European Socialism) scored 15.0%; this motion was instead opposed to the merger of the DS with DL. A third motion (For a New, Democratic and Socialist Party), signed byGavino Angius,Mauro Zani, and originally byGiuseppe Caldarola, took 9.3% of the vote; its members (gathered in the newSocialists and Europeans faction) supported the creation of a new party only within the PES, which was opposed by the DL. As a result, the DS approved the formation of a Democratic Party, along with DL and minor parties. Most supporters of the two motions which had opposed the merger left the DS immediately after the congress and launched theDemocratic Left on 5 May 2007, which aimed to unite the heterogeneous Italian left.[10]
TheDemocratic Party (PD) formed in October 2007. Its first secretary wasWalter Veltroni, a former DS leader who was elected leader of the new party through aleadership election, which saw the participation of over 3.5 million Italian voters. Veltroni won 75.8% of the vote.
Inside the DS, there was often a somewhat simplistic distinction between reformists (riformisti) and radicals (radicali), indicating respectively the party's mainstream and its left wing. The party also included several organised factions. Thesocial-democratic majority was loosely organised, while including several organised movements: theLabourites – Liberal Socialists and Sicily's Reformist Movement, both splinter groups of theItalian Socialist Party; Reformist Europe, a splinter group of theDemocratic Union led byGiorgio Benvenuto (previously named Reformists for Europe); theSocial Christians, which had emerged from the left wing ofChristian Democracy; theRepublican Left, from the left wing of theItalian Republican Party; and theLiberal Left, from the left wing of theItalian Liberal Party. A dissident group left the Labourites in order to launchSocialists and Europeans as a vehicle to oppose the party's merger with DL. On the party's right, theLiberal DS had a moderateThird Way orradical centrist political agenda and joined the party's majority in latter years.
Before the party's last congress in 2007, the left-wing opposition was led by theDS Left – Returning to win, a democratic-socialist grouping, with other smaller groups includingDS Left – for Socialism and theEcologist Left. Before that, some DS leading members, includingPietro Ingrao,Achille Occhetto, andPietro Folena, had left the party in order to join theCommunist Refoundation Party, which at its sixth congress held in January 2005 moved toward a more heterogeneous, non-sectarian, and strongly pacifist variety of leftism.
The electoral results of DS (PDS until 1998) in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections from 1992 to 2006 are shown in chart below. The result for the 2006 general election refers to the election for the Senate (the DS contested the election for the Chamber of Deputies in a joint list with the DL).
The electoral results of the DS (PDS until 1998) in the 10 most populatedregions of Italy are shown in the table below.
| 1994 general | 1995 regional | 1996 general | 1999 European | 2000 regional | 2001 general | 2004 European | 2005 regional | 2006 general | |
| Piedmont | 16.7 | 21.7 | 16.9 | 13.7 | 17.7 | 15.9 | with Ulivo | 20.1 | 16.9 |
| Lombardy | 13.0 | 16.5 | 15.1 | 12.9 | withUlivo | 11.7 | with Ulivo | with Ulivo | 12.4 |
| Veneto | 12.2 | 16.5 | 11.8 | 11.1 | 12.3 | 10.7 | with Ulivo | with Ulivo | 11.5 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 36.6 | 43.0 | 35.7 | 32.8 | 36.2 | 28.8 | with Ulivo | with Ulivo | 30.6 |
| Tuscany | 33.7 | 40.9 | 34.8 | 31.9 | 36.4 | 30.9 | with Ulivo | with Ulivo | 29.8 |
| Lazio | 23.3 | 27.2 | 23.5 | 18.4 | 20.0 | 17.3 | with Ulivo | with Ulivo | 19.2 |
| Campania | 19.7 | 19.5 | 20.0 | 13.8 | 14.2 | 14.3 | with Ulivo | 15.3 | 14.1 |
| Apulia | 19.9 | 22.1 | 22.1 | 14.1 | 15.7 | 12.9 | with Ulivo | 16.6 | 15.6 |
| Calabria | 22.2 | 22.2 | 21.0 | 16.4 | 14.3 | 17.9 | with Ulivo | 15.4 | 14.4 |
| Sicily | 16.5 | 14.1(1996) | 16.6 | 12.0 | 10.1(2001) | 10.3 | with Ulivo | 14.0(2006) | 11.4 |
| Chamber of Deputies | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 6,151,154 (2nd) | 16.6 | 137 / 630 | – | |
| 2006 | withUlivo | – | 123 / 630 |  14 | |
| Senate of the Republic | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | withUlivo | – | 64 / 315 | – | |
| 2006 | 5,977,347 (2nd) | 17.5 | 62 / 315 | 2 | |
| European Parliament | |||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 5,387,729 (2nd) | 17.3 | 15 / 87 | – | |
| 2004 | withUlivo | – | 12 / 78 | 3 | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
