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Free and Equal Liberi e Uguali
Leader	Pietro Grasso
Founded	3 December 2017; 14 months ago (2017-12-03)
Ideology	Social democracy[1][2] Democratic socialism[1][3][4] Eco-socialism[1]
Political position	Left-wing
European affiliation	None
European Parliament group	S&D (5) GUE–NGL (1)
Chamber of Deputies	14 / 630
Senate	4 / 315
European Parliament	6 / 73
Regional Presidents	1 / 20
Regional Councils	32 / 897
Website
liberieuguali.it
Politics of Italy Political parties Elections

Free and Equal (Italian: Liberi e Uguali, LeU) is a left-wing federation of political parties in Italy. It was launched on 3 December 2017 by the Democratic and Progressive Movement, Italian Left and Possible. The leader of the alliance for the 2018 general election was Pietro Grasso, former President of the Senate and former anti-Mafia prosecutor.

The three founding parties have since left the alliance, but LeU continues to exist as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies and a sub-group in the Senate.

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), 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) became the leaders of the PD's internal left. They were backed by former DS and PD leaders Massimo D'Alema, Pier Luigi Bersani and Guglielmo Epifani. Rossi and Speranza criticised Renzi on many of his policies and were initially joined by Michele Emiliano, President of Apulia.^[5][6] In February 2017, the dissidents (except Emiliano, who stayed in the PD and would unsuccessfully challenge Renzi in the upcoming 2017 leadership election), and a group of SI splinters led by Arturo Scotto (a former DS member too) launched the Democratic and Progressive Movement (MDP), a month after the merger of Left Ecology Freedom (SEL), FaS and minor groups into Italian Left (SI).^[7][8][9]

Road to the new alliance

Soon after the foundation of the MDP, Roberto Speranza (MDP coordinator), Nicola Fratoianni (SI secretary) and Giuseppe Civati (P secretary) discussed the opportunity of forming a left-wing coalition as an alternative to the centre-left led by the PD, the centre-right and the Five Star Movement.^[10]

In the 2017 Sicilian regional election, the three left-wing parties, along with the Communist Refoundation Party, other parties and groups, ran in a joint list named One Hundred Steps for Sicily with Claudio Fava for President. Fava won 6.2% of the vote, the list 5.2% and only Fava was elected deputy in the Regional Assembly.^[11]

During a convention in Rome on 3 December 2017, the MDP–SI–P alliance was officially established as Free and Equal (LeU) and Pietro Grasso, President of the Senate and former anti-Mafia prosecutor, was appointed leader and candidate for Prime Minister in the 2018 general election.^{[12][13][14][15]} A few weeks later, also Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies (who had been elected as an independent of SEL in 2013), joined LeU.^[16][17][18] Another high-profile adherent was Rossella Muroni, who had been the president of Legambiente up to then.^[19] In January, LeU was joined also by the Greens of South Tyrol.^[20][21]

2018 general election and dissolution

In January 2018, shortly before the election some internal conflict started within the party, with Grasso accused to be little charismatic and uninfluential on alliance politics.^[22]

In March, LeU obtained 3.4% of the vote in the general election, well below expectations^[23][24] and opinion polls, electing 14 deputies and 4 senators.^[25][26]

In May, LeU launched a constituent assembly in Rome with the partecipation of the MDP, SI and Possible, which agreed on the creation of a party with a single structure and an internal voting system on political issues.^[27] In June, the national committee of LeU fixed the founding congress for December.^[28] The following day, Beatrice Brignone, who had replaced Civati as secretary of Possible, announced the departure of her party from the alliance.^[29]

More internal conflicts broke out between the two remaining parties (MDP and SI) during summer, especially about political affiliations for the upcoming 2019 European Parliament election and possible alliance with the PD.^[30] Between October and December, LeU was successively abandoned by SI (focused on entering a new alliance led by Luigi de Magistris, Popular Coalition)^[31][32] and the MDP (focused on the formation of a new "red-green" party)^[33][34][35] as well as by high-profile members like Boldrini.^[36]

In January 2019, SI returned into LeU's fold and under the leadership of senator Francesco Laforgia and deputy Luca Pastorino (dissident members of MDP and Possible, respectively) the two organisations initiated a collaboration with the goal of forming a joint party by March.^[37][38][39]

Composition

Founding members

Other participating members

Election results

Italian Parliament

Regional Councils

Region	Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	2018	11,748 (10th)	2.78	1 / 49	1
Lombardy	2018	111,296 (7th)	2.12	0 / 80	–
South Tyrol	2018	19,391 (4th) (with the Greens)	6.86	3 / 35	–
Trentino	2018	3,560 (15th)	1.40	0 / 35	–
Lazio	2018	88,416 (8th)	3.48	1 / 50	1
Abruzzo	2019	16,614 (9th)	2.77	0 / 31	–
Molise	2018	4,784 (10th)	3.39	0 / 21	–
Sicily	2017	100,583 (9th)	5.23	1 / 70	1
Sardinia	2019	TBD	TBD	2 / 60	2

References