The politics of Italy are conducted through a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum and a constituent assembly was elected to draft a constitution, which was promulgated on 1 January 1948.
Romano Antonio Prodi is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 18 May 1996 to 21 October 1998, and then from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008. Prodi is considered the founder of the Italian centre-left and one of the most prominent and iconic figures of the so-called Second Republic. He is often nicknamed Il Professore due to his academic career.
The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left political and electoral alliances of Italian political parties from 1995 to 2007.
The Union of the Centre, whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats", is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lorenzo Cesa is the party's current secretary; Pier Ferdinando Casini was for years the most recognisable figure and de facto leader of the party, before eventually distancing from it in 2016. The UdC is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), of which Casini was president from 2004 to 2015.
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, commonly known simply as The Daisy, was a centrist 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. 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 2006 Italian general election was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms. Initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed. On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory; Berlusconi never conceded defeat and an ensuing dispute formed.
The Union was a heterogenous centre-left political and electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. The Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree coalition which represented the centre-left in the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, The Union also included parties of the radical left, which were not affiliated with The Olive Tree. The Union was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from May 2006 to May 2008, and former President of the European Commission. Collapsing in the wake of the 2008 Italian political crisis, the alliance was succeeded by the current-day centre-left coalition.
Pier Ferdinando Casini is an Italian politician. He served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006.
The 1996 Italian general election was held on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the centre-right Pole for Freedoms.
The Italian People's Party was a Christian-democratic, centrist and Christian-leftist political party in Italy. The party was a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
The Democrats was a centrist and social-liberal political party in Italy.
Mario Clemente Mastella is an Italian politician who has served as the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He is the leader of Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist Italian party. He was Minister of Labour in the Berlusconi government from 10 May 1994 to 17 January 1995 and Minister of Justice in the Prodi government from 17 May 2006 to 17 January 2008.
Middle Italy was a centrist Italian political grouping founded in 2006 by Marco Follini, Senate member and former leader of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, and Riccardo Conti, member of the Chamber of Deputies. Initially founded as a free political association in support of the "no" vote for the 2006 constitutional referendum, it became a party on 21 October 2006, after Follini announced his resignations from the UDC caucus.
The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislature.
The Pact for Italy was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994.
The Liberal Democrats, whose complete name is Liberal Democrats for Renewal, is a liberal and centrist political party in Italy.
The Olivists (Ulivisti) are a faction within the Democratic Party (PD), a political party in Italy.
The Pole for Freedoms was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, which was active from 1996 to 2000. It included Forza Italia (FI), the National Alliance (AN), Union of the Centre (UdC), Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), United Christian Democrats (CDD), and Pannella–Sgarbi List.
The Union of Democrats for Europe, also known as UDEUR Populars, was a minor centrist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy.
The centre-left coalition is an alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left coalition has ruled the country for more than 15 years between 1996 and 2022.
