The centre-left coalition (Italian: coalizione di centro-sinistra) is a political 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 fifteen years between 1996 and 2021; to do so, it had mostly to rely on a big tent that went from the more radical left-wing, which had more weight between 1996 and 2008, to the political centre, which had more weight during the 2010s, and its main parties were also part of grand coalitions and national unity governments.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the centre-left coalition has been built around the Democratic Party (PD), which was established in 2007 from a merger of Democrats of the Left and Democracy is Freedom, the main parties affiliated to both The Olive Tree and The Union. The centre-left coalition was part of Italian governments from November 2011 to June 2018, when a coalition government between the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the League was formed.
In September 2019, the centre-left returned to power in coalition with the M5S, with centre-left parties participating in the national unity government of Mario Draghi, who was the country's prime minister from February 2021 until the 2022 Italian government crisis in July that led to the 2022 Italian general election. Under an electoral law (Rosatellum) that favoured unity and coalitions, a divided centre-left, M5S, and PD's centrist split parties suffered a loss to the centre-right coalition, which won a majority of seats since the 2008 Italian general election. Since 2023, PD, M5S, Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) and minor leftist parties often run within the same coalition at local and regional level in the Progressive Camp.[1][2]
The Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree. While The Union was an heterogenous alliance that also included Communist parties, they were not part of The Olive Tree. Prodi won the 2006 Italian general election by a very narrow margin due to the new electoral law enacted by Roberto Calderoli; Berlusconi refused to acknowledge defeat. Prodi's coalition proved to be extremely frail, as the two-vote margin in the Senate of the Republic allowed almost any party in the coalition to veto legislation and political views inside the coalition spanned from communists to Christian democrats.
Napolitano in 2006
On 7 May 2006, the centre-left coalition officially endorsed Giorgio Napolitano as its candidate in the 2006 Italian presidential election that began on 8 May. The Holy See endorsed him as the president of Italy through its official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, just after The Union named him as its candidate, as did Marco Follini, former secretary of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDCC), a member party of the House of Freedoms. On 10 May 2006, Napolitano was elected in the fourth round of voting, the first of those requiring only an absolute majority, unlike the first three which required two-thirds of the votes, with 543 votes (out of a possible 1009). At the age of 80, he became the first former PCI member to become president of Italy
On 21 February 2007, less than a year after he had won the elections, Prodi tendered his resignation to Napolitano after the government was defeated in the Senate by two ballots in a vote on foreign policy. On 24 February, Napolitano invited Prodi to return to office and face a vote of confidence. Major causes of friction inside the coalition were the 2006 Pardon Act (it was criticised by the centre-right coalition and by the Italy of Values party), a draft bill to establish civil unions (vetoed by Christian democrats), Italy's continued involvement in Afghanistan (strongly opposed by left-wing parties), and the much publicised house-arrest of Clemente Mastella's wife (then a prominent politician at the regional level) over a corruption scandal. Mastella's party Union of Democrats for Europe held enough seats in the Senate that his eventual decision to withdraw its support for the government meant the end of the legislature on 6 February 2008. Mastella, who also resigned from his office as Minister of Justice, cited the proposed reform of the electoral system that would have made it difficult for small parties like his own to gain seats in the Italian Parliament, as well as the lack of personal support from his coalition partners' as one of the reasons behind his decision.[6]
The Democratic Party (PD) was founded on 14 October 2007 as a merger of various centre-left parties that had been part of The Union in the 2006 general election. At foundation, the majority of the PD was formed by the Democrats of the Left (DS), heirs of the PCI, and the largely Catholic-inspired Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy.[7] Within the party, an important role is played by Christian leftists, who are direct heirs of the former DC's left wing.[8][9][10] After the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister in November 2011, the PD gave external support to Mario Monti's technocratic government.[11][12]
^The SVP contested the election for the Senate in a joint list with the PD and the Union for Trentino in three out of six constituencies and with the PD in one constituency.
There were regional agreements between the centre-left coalition and Action – Italia Viva in Trentino for the Senate election and in Aosta Valley for both Chamber and Senate elections. The Italian Left ran instead with the Five Star Movement and Democratic Area in Aosta Valley.
Popular support
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^Roberto Biorcio (2002). "Italy". In Ferdinand Muller-Rommel; Thomas Poguntke (eds.). Green Parties in National Governments. Routledge. pp. 42–44. ISBN978-1-135-28826-6.
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