About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Daisy—Democracy is Freedom

Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAI : Daisy—Democracy is Freedom

Daisy-Democracy is Freedom (full name in Italian: Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita: 'Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy') is a centrist political Party in Italy.

Contents

Origin and Members

Originally a coalition of three parties, Italian People's Party (led by Pierluigi Castagnetti), Democrats (led by Arturo Parisi) and Italian Renewal (led by Lamberto Dini), it ran for its first time in 2001 as an alliance and part of the Olive Tree Coalition. Soon after the General Elections, the constituting parties merged into one.

The Daisy is formed by former Christian Democrats and centrists, mainly from the old Italian People's Party (but also including Liberals and Republicans), as well as more leftist politicians, especially socialists and greens.

Factions

The Daisy is mainly composed by two factions:

*the core of the former Italian People's Party, as Franco Marini and Ciriaco De Mita.
*Rutelli's own group, composed of Dario Franceschini, Paolo Gentiloni, Roberto Giacchetti, Ermete Realacci and Gianni Vernetti (many of whom followed their leader from the Radicals to the Greens and to the Democrats).
  • Prodi's followers (Prodiani)
    • *the core of the former Democrats, as Arturo Parisi, Marina Magistrelli, Enzo Bianco, Willer Bordon and Antonio Maccanico.
    *those former members of the Italian People's Party, which are backers of Romano Prodi, as Pierluigi Castagnetti, Rosy Bindi and Enrico Letta.
    It is interesting to note that the first faction tends to be more social-conservative and Catholic-oriented, while Arturo Parisi's faction trends to be more liberal if not staunchly secularist, with the notable exception of Prodi's Popolari.

    Relevant members by former political adherence

    Former

    Former

    Former

    Former
    • Linda Lanzillotta
    • Enrico Manca
    • Pierluigi Mantini
    • Tiziano Treu

    Former

    Former

    Former
    • Francesco Rutelli
    • Roberto Giachetti

    Former

    Party and ideology

    The party president and leader is Francesco Rutelli, former Mayor of Rome and former centre-left candidate for Prime Minister at the 2001 General Elections.

    They are a pro-European centrist-liberal party. Although part of the Olive Tree, which is usually associated with the centre-left, the Democratici were a member of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party, and the Partito Popolare Italiano was a member of the European People's Party. After the 2004 European elections the merged party decided not to become a member of either the ELDR or the EPP, but formed together with the French UDF the European Democratic Party. In the European Parliament the Margherita joined the group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

    Last developments

    In June 2005 the Margherita decided by majority they will no longer join the l'Unione coalition at the next General Election, to be held in 2006, but they would merely provide external support. The Party's decision triggered major controversy, with rumours of divisions inside the party itself, also worsened by Rutelli's indication of "no-vote" at the Referenda on artificial insemination held in June 12 and 13. In Italy, for the result of a Referendum to be legally binding, a 50% turnout is strictly necessary. As such, Rutelli's decision was considered instrumental for the referenda to collapse. The vote was seen by some as a test over the kind of political weight carried by the Vatican in the Italian political life.

    2006 elections

    In the 9-10 April 2006 general elections, the party was member of the winning The Union (L'Unione) and won 39 out of 315 senators. Its alliance Olive Tree won 220 out of 630 deputies.

    Leadership

    an election campaign street stall for the Margherita Party in Milan, 2004
    Enlarge
    an election campaign street stall for the Margherita Party in Milan, 2004

    See also


    Political parties of Italy [edit]
    The Union House of Freedoms
    Represented in
    Parliament     		Federation of the Olive Tree (Democrats of the Left, Daisy—Democracy is Freedom, European Republican Movement) | Communist Refoundation Party | Rose in the Fist (Italian Democratic Socialists, Italian Radicals) | Party of Italian Communists | Italy of Values | Federation of the Greens | Popular-UDEUR | South Tyrolese People's Party | Autonomy Liberty Democracy Forza Italia | National Alliance | Union of Christian and Centre Democrats | LN/MpA (Northern League, Movement for Autonomy) | New DC/NPSI (Christian Democracy for the Autonomies, Socialist Party New PSI) | For Italy in the World with Tremaglia
    Minor Pensioners' Party | The Socialists | Italian Democratic Socialist Party | Left-Wing Radicals | Federation of Italian Liberals | Federation of Liberal Democrats | United Democratic Christians | Consumers' List | New Party of Action | United Consumers | Party of Christian Democracy | Republicans for the Union (Democratic Republicans, Republican Democracy) | League for Autonomy-Lombard Alliance | Project Sardinia | Veneto Front League Social Alternative (Social Action, New Force, National Social Front) | Social Movement Tricolour Flame | Italian Liberal Party | Liberal Reformers | No Euro Movement | Italian Republican Party | Secular Italy | United Pensioners | Christian Extended Pact | CD - Shield with the Cross - Libertas | Environmental List-Ecological Democrats | Federalist Greens | S.O.S. Italy | New Sicily | Pact for Sicily | Unitalia
    Regional Aosta Valley Live | Die Freiheitlichen | Valdotanian Union | Ladins | Sardinian Action Party | Independence-Republic of Sardinia | Sardinia Nation | Union for South Tyrol | Sicilian Alliance

    Others Fascism and Freedom Movement | For the South | Green Greens | Humanist Party | Internationalist Communist Party | Italian Association in South America | Italian Marxist-Leninist Party | Liberal Socialist Action Party | Marxist-Leninist Italian Communist Party | Moderate Italy | Monarchist Alliance | National Democratic Party | National New Order | National Right-New ISM | North-East Project | Pact of Liberal Democrats | Social Idea Movement | Southern League
    Historical Christian Democracy | Italian Communist Party | Italian Socialist Party | Italian Social Movement | Democratic Party of the Left | Proletarian Democracy | Proletarian Unity Party | Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity] | Unified Socialist Party | Democratic Alliance | National Fascist Party

     

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

    Search Titles
    0123456789
    ABCDEFGHIJ
    KLMNOPQRST
    UVWXYZ?

    E-mail this article to:

    Personal Message: