Third Pole ( it, Terzo Polo), whose complete name was Federation of the Centre – Third Pole (''Federazione di Centro – Terzo Polo''), was a small Christian-democratic political party in Italy, based in

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

especially in

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

. Its leaders were

Vincenzo Scotti Vincenzo Scotti (born 16 September 1933) is an Italian politician and member of Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy (DC). He was Italian Minister of the Interior, Minister of the Interior and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mini ...

(secretary), former

Italian Minister of the Interior The Minister of the Interior (Italian: ''Ministro dell'Interno'') in Italy is one of the most important positions in the Italian Council of Ministers and leads the Ministry of the Interior. The current Minister is prefect Matteo Piantedosi, a ...

for

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

, and Nino Cristofori (president). The party contested the

2006 Italian general election The 2006 Italian general election was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedo ...

as The Centre – Third Pole (''Il Centro – Terzo Polo''), independently from the two major coalitions. In 2007, the party counted four regional councillors: Giorgio De Matteis and Claudio Di Bartolomeo (Abruzzo), Antonio Milo (

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

), and Antonio Flovilla (

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

). In January 2008, the party formed a political pact with

Raffaele Lombardo Raffaele Lombardo ; (born 29 October 1950, in Catania) is an Italian politician who was President of Sicily and former Member of the European Parliament for Islands with the Movement for the Autonomies and has sat on the European Parliament's Com ...

Movement for Autonomy The Movement for Autonomy ( it, Movimento per l'Autonomia, MpA) is a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The MpA, whose founder and leader is Raffaele Lombardo, demands economic development, greater autono ...

(MpA), whose power base was in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

.Raffaele Lombardo e Vincenzo Scotti presentano il nuovo Movimento - Movimento per l'Autonomia, MPA
/ref> The plan was to create a network of regionalist Christian-democratic parties. After the

2008 Italian general election A snap election was held in Italy on 13–14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved the Italian Parliament on 6 February 2008, following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January ...

, Scotti was appointed Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in

Berlusconi IV Cabinet The fourth Berlusconi government was the 60th government of Italy, in office from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. It was the fourth government led by Silvio Berlusconi, who then became the longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy of the Italian Re ...

and later also president of the MpA. In the

2008 Abruzzo regional election The Abruzzo regional election of 2008 took place on 14–15 December 2008, due to the early resignation of President Ottaviano Del Turco, after his indictment for alleged corruption. The election was to take place on 30 November–1 December, but ...

the MpA won 3.3 of the vote and De Matteis was re-elected regional deputy.

References

Defunct political parties in Italy Centrist parties in Italy Catholic political parties Christian democratic parties in Italy 2006 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 2006 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing {{italy-party-stub

See also

References