The Union (political coalition)
From Freepedia
| The Union | |
|---|---|
| L'Unione | |
| Italian National Coalition | |
| Leader | Romano Prodi |
| Political ideology | Left-wing coalition |
| Website | http://www.unioneweb.it/, http://www.ulivo.it |
| See also | Politics of Italy |
L'Unione (The Union in English) is an Italian left-wing coalition of parties. It is composed today of Democrats of the Left, Daisy-Democracy is Freedom, Communist Refoundation Party, Italian Democratic Socialists, Federation of the Greens, Italy of Values, Popular Alliance-UDEUR, Party of Italian Communists, and the European Republican Movement.
Four of these parties, Democrats of the Left, Daisy-Democracy is Freedom, Italian Democratic Socialists and European Republican Movement, are also loosely federated into a unique smaller entity, called United in the Olive Tree.
The participation of the Italian Radicals in the Union is currently under discussion, because of the friction the presence of the fiercely anti-clerical radicals would cause with the catholic components of the federation. The Radicals are currently trying to create a federation with the Italian Democratic Socialists; the Socialist Party New PSI splitted when faced the issue on its last national congress in October 2005, with a left wing which announced its immediate participation into the new federation.
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Primary elections
The coalition has been assumed to be led by Romano Prodi, but Prodi himself has called for primary elections. Primary elections are a novelty in Italian politics, as the proportional system in place until the early 1990s was supposed to present sufficient variety to electors. With the new majoritarian electoral system, two clear blocks have emerged since 1996. The primary elections for the Union took place on October 16, 2005.
Previous primary election in Apulia
Primary elections have never been held on a national level before in Italy, and only once at a regional level, in Apulia: in that occasion, Nichi Vendola, a communist and a homosexual, became the candidate for the centre-left coalition in a region reputed to be conservative and to a certain degree bigot. The institute of primary election came under criticism from some centre-left moderates, as in their opinion it had produced a useless candidate doomed to failure. However, Vendola's victory against the incumbent governor and centre-right candidate Raffaele Fitto, a much more conventional and moderate young man, vindicated the primary elections in the internal argumentations of the Union.
Candidates
When the primary elections were first proposed, they were mostly meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi, since there were no other candidates to the leadership of the coalition. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti, then decided to announce he would run for the leadership, even if only as a symbolic candidate, to avoid a one-candidate election. After some time, more candidates were presented.
The seven candidates for the leadership of the Union are, in the order in which they appear on the electoral ballot: [1]
- Fausto Bertinotti, secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party.
- Antonio Di Pietro, former anti-corruption prosecutor in the Mani Pulite investigation, leader of Italy of Values.
- Ivan Scalfarotto, a manager living in London and a blogger, runs as an independent candidate. He is openly homosexual.
- The faceless candidate, formally represented in person by Simona Panzino. This is a symbolic candidate from the anti-globalization movement. Some priests close to these movements were initially suggested for the actual name to place on the ballots, but they were retreated in face of likely backfire from the Vatican.
- Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, secretary of the Federation of the Greens. Other than environmentalism, he has a civil-rights-oriented and pacifist agenda. He is openly bisexual, and has because of this received threats of rape from the Northern League. [2]
- Romano Prodi, leader of the Olive tree coalition, supported by the largest parties of the Union, former prime minister of Italy and president of the European Commission.
- Clemente Mastella, leader of the Popular-UDEUR party. A former ally of Silvio Berlusconi, he is considered the most catholic and centrist candidate.
It had been foreseen an easy win for Romano Prodi, with the other candidates running mostly to "measure their strengths" in the coalition, and they usually talk about reaching a certain percentage rather than winning. However, there have been rumours of supporters of the House of Freedoms trying to participate in the elections, and vote in favour of Mastella, reputed to be the least competent of the candidates and the least likely to win against Berlusconi, other than the most centrist; other rumours indicate such "fake" left-wing voters would vote for Bertinotti, because his leadership would likely loose any grip on the political centre.
The election
The election has been held nationwide on October 16, from 8 am to 10 pm. The primary election has been opened to all Italian citizens which will be at least 18 for the next general election, plus regular immigrants who lives in Italy for 3 years (it must be noted that immigrants still do not have the opportunity to vote for any other election in Italy), against a payment of (at least) 1 euro, in order to cover all the organizational expenses. Poll stations have been mainly managed on a voluntary basis; they have been hosted mainly in squares, local party quarters, schools, and even restaurants, bars, campers and a hairdresser; some poll stations have been also provided outside the country for Italians abroad. Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election. The total count would be in excess of 4,300,000.
Allegations of fraud by Mastella
Clemente Mastella claimed, already on the election day, that too few ballots had been provided in areas where his party is stronger, and that several pre-marked voting papers, pre-marked with votes for Prodi, have been prepared in order to let him lose. No one other than Mastella backed up these claims inside the coalition, and material evidence has not been presented.
Murder of Francesco Fortugno
Francesco Fortugno, vice-president of the Council of Calabria, was murdered by two killers when he was waiting in line to vote in a polling station located in Locri. The act was assumed to have political significance since the murderers killed him on a political occasion and with dozens of witnesses. The administration Fortugno was a part of had previously removed many administrators, and some saw this murder as an act of retribution from the 'Ndrangheta against Agazio Loriero's administration.
Results
9,816 poll stations
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Romano Prodi | 3,182,686 | 74.1% |
| Fausto Bertinotti | 631,592 | 14.7% |
| Clemente Mastella | 196,014 | 4.6% |
| Antonio Di Pietro | 142,143 | 3.3% |
| Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio | 95,388 | 2.2% |
| Ivan Scalfarotto | 26,912 | 0.6% |
| Simona Panzino | 19,752 | 0.5% |
| White ballots | 7,583 | - |
| Invalid ballots | 9,031 | - |
| Total | 4,311,149 | 100.0% |
Reactions
Most reactions in the left-wing were comprehensibly enthusiastic, especially because of the high number of participants. Clemente Mastella, however, accused the organization of rigging the election and having pre-printed ballots in favour of Prodi.
In the right wing, two main attitudes were held: some respected or even hailed the election, others contested its validity and characterised them as propaganda. [3]
- Silvio Berlusconi said the primary elections "are the only way they can win";
- Gianfranco Fini expressed respect for voters, but suggested, on the basis of Mastella's claims, that the results may have been rigged;
- Roberto Maroni from the Northern League said that the elections "deserve respect in any case, but will not solve the centre-left's internal contradictions";
- Roberto Castelli, minister of justice, stygmatised the elections as a "perfect example of soviet-style political campaign: there is no certification of the data purported by the centre-left, and knowing their methods they are certainly inflated".
- The Union of Christian Democrats expressed the most positive judgements from the centre-right, and Bruno Tabacci called for primary elections in the centre-right too, following tensions between his party and Berlusconi, no longer felt to be a strong candidate.
External links and references
- Italian Opposition Holds Primary to Choose Berlusconi Challenger, Voice Of America (retrieved October 16, 2005)
- Italians Vote to Choose Berlusconi Challenger, The Epoch Times (retrieved October 16, 2005)
- Centre-left 'primary' huge success, ANSA (retrieved October 16, 2005)
- Image:Symbole-it.png Mastella: 'Fake primaries, ballot papers already prepared for Prodi', Repubblica.it (retrieved October 16, 2005)
- Italian politician killed at poll station, Virgin.net (retrieved October 16, 2005)
- Prodi wins Italian primary, CNN.com (retrieved October 17, 2005)
- Romano Prodi wins Italian primary, BBC News (retrieved October 17, 2005)
See also
- Politics of Italy
- Elections in Italy
- Olive Tree
- Romano Prodi
- House of Freedoms
- Italian general elections, 2006
