1994 Italian general election in the context of "Centre-left coalition (Italy)"

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👉 1994 Italian general election in the context of Centre-left coalition (Italy)

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 thirteen 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.

The coalition mostly competed with the centre-right coalition founded by Silvio Berlusconi. In the 1996 Italian general election, The Olive Tree consisted of the majority of both the left-wing Alliance of Progressives and the centrist Pact for Italy, the two losing coalitions in the 1994 Italian general election, the first under a system based primarily on first-past-the-post voting. In 2005, The Union was founded as a wider coalition to contest the 2006 Italian general election, which later collapsed due to Clemente Mastella during the 2008 Italian political crisis, with the fall of the second Prodi government.

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1994 Italian general election in the context of Centre-right coalition (Italy)

The centre-right coalition (Italian: coalizione di centro-destra) is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the Forza Italia party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left coalition. It is composed of right-leaning parties in the Italian political arena, which generally advocate tax reduction and oppose immigration, and in some cases are eurosceptic. The centre-right coalition has ruled the country for more than twelve years between 1994 and today.

In the 1994 Italian general election, under the leadership of Berlusconi, the centre-right ran with two coalitions, the Pole of Freedoms in Northern Italy and Tuscany (mainly Forza Italia and the Northern League), and the Pole of Good Government (mainly Forza Italia and National Alliance) in Central Italy and Southern Italy. In the 1996 Italian general election, after the Northern League had left in late 1994, the centre-right coalition took the name of Pole for Freedoms. The Northern League returned in 2000, and the coalition was re-formed as the House of Freedoms; this lasted until 2008.

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1994 Italian general election in the context of Forza Italia (1994)

Forza Italia (FI; lit. 'Forward Italy' or 'Come on Italy' or 'Let's Go Italy') was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic, liberal (especially economic liberalism), social democratic and populist tendencies. It was founded by Silvio Berlusconi, who served as Prime Minister of Italy four times.

The party was founded in December 1993 and won its first general election soon afterwards in March 1994. It was the main member of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government, Pole for Freedoms and House of Freedoms coalitions. Throughout its existence, the party was characterised by a strong reliance on the personal image and charisma of its leader (it has been called a "personality party" or Berlusconi's "personal party"), and the skillful use of media campaigns, especially via television. The party's organisation and ideology depended heavily on its leader, so much so that its appeal to voters was based on Berlusconi's personality more than on its ideology or programme.

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