The Democratic Union ( it, Unione Democratica, UD) was a small social-liberal

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. It was founded in February 1996 by Antonio Maccanico, along with

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and Giorgio Benvenuto (both members of Democratic Alliance),

Valerio Zanone Valerio Zanone (22 January 1936 – 7 January 2016) was an Italian politician, who was formerly secretary and president of the Italian Liberal Party (''Partito Liberale Italiano''; PLI). He was also a senator for the Democratic Party (Italy), Demo ...

(a former leader of the

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) and

Giorgio La Malfa Giorgio La Malfa (born 13 October 1939 in Milan) is an Italian politician. Biography La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister. La Malfa served as secretary of the Italian Republican ...

(leader of the Italian Republican Party). The party was a minor member of The Olive Tree, and formed the

Populars for Prodi The Populars for Prodi ( it, Popolari per Prodi) was an electoral list of political parties in Italy. The list participated in the 1996 general election as a component of The Olive Tree, supporting Romano Prodi as candidate for Prime Minister ...

list with the Italian People's Party for the

1996 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1996. * 1995–1996 Azerbaijani parliamentary election * 1996 Beninese presidential election * 1996 Comorian presidential election * 1996 New Zealand general election * 1996 Nicaraguan general election ...

, electing five deputies and one senator. The party was part of the Prodi I Cabinet, with Maccanico becoming minister for Communications, and later the D'Alema I Cabinet, D'Alema II Cabinet and

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with Maccanico minister of Institutional Reforms. In 1999 the party joined Romano Prodi's new party, The Democrats.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Union 1996 establishments in Italy 1999 disestablishments in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 1996 Political parties disestablished in 1999