Egftnjytyk

Democratic and Progressive Movement Movimento Democratico e Progressista
Coordinator	Roberto Speranza
President	Pier Luigi Bersani
Founded	25 February 2017
Split from	Democratic Party
Headquarters	Via Zanardelli, 34 00186 Rome
Youth wing	Youth Movement of the Left
Ideology	Social democracy[1][2] Progressivism[3] Secularism[citation needed]
Political position	Centre-left[4][5] to left-wing[6][7]
National affiliation	Free and Equal
European affiliation	none
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colours	Red
Chamber of Deputies	7 / 630
Senate	2 / 315
European Parliament	3 / 73
Regional Presidents	1 / 20
Regional Councils	19 / 897
Website
articolo1mdp.it
Politics of Italy Political parties Elections

Article 1 – Democratic and Progressive Movement (Italian: Articolo 1 – Movimento Democratico e Progressista, MDP),^[8][9] initally known also as Democrats and Progressives (Democratici e Progressisti), is a social-democratic political party in Italy, formed in February 2017 by a left-wing split from the Democratic Party (PD)^{[10][11][12][13]} and soon joined by a group of splinters from the Italian Left (SI). The party is led by Roberto Speranza (coordinator) and its leading members include also Massimo D'Alema, Pier Luigi Bersani, Enrico Rossi (President of Tuscany) and Arturo Scotto.

Most of MDP leading members were formerly affiliated to the Democrats of the Left (DS). The name refers to article 1 of the Constitution that defines Italy as "a democratic republic based on labour" and affirms popular sovereignty.^[11]

In late 2017 the party was a founding member of Free and Equal (LeU), a left-wing joint list for the 2018 general election.

History

Background

Since the 2013 leadership election of the Democratic Party (PD), in which Matteo Renzi, a centrist, was elected secretary, the party was riven by an internal struggle between Renzi's large majority (composed of Renziani, assorted centrists and moderate social democrats) and the left-wing factions, which were very critical of Renzi, his government (2014–2016) and his proposed constitutional reform, which was finally voted down in a constitutional referendum in December 2016.

After the splits of Possible (P) and Future to the Left (FaS), the standard-bearers of the PD's internal left were Enrico Rossi (leader of the Democratic Socialists faction and President of Tuscany) and Roberto Speranza (leader of Reformist Area and former PD leader in the Chamber of Deputies). These were backed by former DS or PD leaders Massimo D'Alema, Pier Luigi Bersani and Guglielmo Epifani. Rossi and Speranza criticised Renzi on many of his policies and they were joined by Michele Emiliano, President of Apulia.^[14][15] In February 2017 Renzi resigned for secretary, triggering a new leadership election in a couple of months' time. This was not enough for the dissidents, who wanted a lengthier internal debate and a leadership election after the summer, while supporting Paolo Gentiloni' government and opposing an early general election.^[16][17]

At the same time, at the left of the PD, Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) was in the process of merging into the Italian Left (SI), along with minor parties and associations (notably including FaS). A group of SI dissidents, led by Arturo Scotto (once a member of the DS too) and Massimiliano Smeriglio (who, like most SI members, hailed from the Communist Refoundation Party, PRC), were interested in joining the Progressive Camp (CP), a would-be and never established political party launched by Giuliano Pisapia,^[18][19] but they finally decided to join with the PD splinters.^[20][21][22]

Foundation

The new party was launched on 25 February 2017 during a convention in Rome. In that occasion, those who left the PD included Vasco Errani,^[23] former President of Emilia-Romagna, and deputy minister of the Interior Filippo Bubbico,^[24] while Emiliano decided to challenge Renzi in the party's "primaries" instead.^[25][26]

Subsequently, 24 deputies and 14 senators left the PD and formed autonomous parliamentary groups both in the Chamber and the Senate. They were joined by 17 deputies and one senator from SI, two deputies from the Mixed Group, one from Civics and Innovators, and one senator from the For the Autonomies group; among these, one deputy and two senators were former members of the Five Star Movement. The groups elected Francesco Laforgia and Maria Cecilia Guerra as leaders, respectively.^[27][8][9] Deputies and senators were followed by three members of the European Parliament: Antonio Panzeri, Massimo Paolucci and Flavio Zanonato.^[28]

In October MDP's only member of the government (Bubbico) resigned,^[29] and the party stopped supporting the Gentiloni Cabinet.

Free and Equal

On 3 December 2017 the MDP was a founding member, along with SI and P, of Free and Equal (LeU), the left-wing joint list for the 2018 general election, which chose the President of the Senate and former anti-Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso as its leader and candidate for Prime Minister.^[30]

In the election LeU won 3.4% of the vote, obtaining 14 deputies and four senators. Among these, the MDP had seven deputies (Speranza, Bersani, Epifani, Federico Conte, Federico Fornaro, Michela Rostan and Nico Stumpo) and two senators (Errani and Laforgia). Fornaro was elected president of LeU's parliamentary group in the Chamber.

In November the MDP, which was focused on forming a brand-new "red-green" party,^[31][32]de facto abandoned LeU.^[33] As of the last party convention in February 2019, this project is moving forward.^[34][35][36]

Election results

Italian Parliament

Regional Councils

Leadership

• Coordinator: Roberto Speranza (2017–present)


• President: Pier Luigi Bersani (2018–present)


• Leader in the Chamber of Deputies: Francesco Laforgia (2017–2018)


• Leader in the Senate: Maria Cecilia Guerra (2017–2018)

Symbol

• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Electoral logo
  

  
  

  
  

References

External links

• Official website