Fermo "Mino" Martinazzoli (; 3 November 1931 – 4 September 2011) was an Italian lawyer, politician and former minister. He was the last secretary of the Christian Democracy party and the first secretary of the Italian People's Party founded in 1994.

Biography

Martinazzoli studied at

Collegio Borromeo ''For the former Borromeo College in the United States see Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology#Borromeo College'' The Almo Collegio Borromeo is a private university hall of residence (collegio) in Pavia, region of Lombardy, Italy. ...

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

, where he received a law degree. He then became a lawyer. In the years 1960–1970s he assumed official roles in Brescia's DC, and became president of the province (1970–1972). He was also elected in the Italian Senate, after which he became Minister of Justice in 1983, a position he held for three years. In 1986–1989 he was president of DC's deputies. In 1989–1990 he was Minister of Defence, but resigned (together with other ministers of DC's left wing) after the approval of a law which strengthened

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

's monopoly over private TV channels in Italy. In 1992, when Democrazia Cristiana was being wiped out by the

Tangentopoli ''Mani pulite'' (; Italian for "clean hands") was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the so-called " First Republic" and the disappearance of many Italia ...

bribery scandal, Martinazzoli, generally respected as an honest and competent man, was elected national secretary. Despite his efforts, the political crisis which followed the corruption scandals forced him to dissolve DC in 1994. Martinazzoli then founded a new party, based on similar ideals, known as the Italian People's Party (1994–2002) (''Partito Popolare Italiano''; PPI), whose name recalled that of the ancestor of DC, which was founded in the early 20th century by

Luigi Sturzo Luigi Sturzo (; 26 November 1871 – 8 August 1959) was an Italian Catholic priest and prominent politician. He was known in his lifetime as a "clerical socialist" and is considered one of the fathers of the Christian democratic platform. He w ...

. In the new

majoritarian Majoritarianism is a traditional political philosophy or agenda that asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language, social class, or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of prim ...

system, Martinazzoli's party placed itself in the center, between the left (which included the heirs of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

) and the new

's Forza Italia, which had allied with the northern regionalist party, Northern League, and the post-fascist National Alliance. His will not to ally with any of them caused numerous politicians (such as Pierferdinando Casini and

Clemente Mastella Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947) is an Italian politician who has served as the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He is the leader of Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist Italian party. He was Minister of Labour i ...

) to leave PPI and form the

Christian Democratic Centre The Christian Democratic Centre ( it, Centro Cristiano Democratico, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, a ...

, which supported Berlusconi. At the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Af ...

, Martinazzoli formed a center alliance known as

Pact for Italy The Pact for Italy ( it, Patto per l'Italia) was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994. History The alliance was composed of the Italian People's Party (PPI), the main successo ...

, including PPI and other democratic centre forces. However, the result of the election was disappointing, with PPI obtaining 11%, some one third of DC's consensus before its dissolution. In the same year, he accepted to run as mayor of Brescia for the new centre-left coalition, The Olive Tree, winning the final ballot and acting as mayor until 1998. In 2000 he lost the competition with

Roberto Formigoni Roberto Formigoni (born 30 March 1947) is a former Italian politician born in Lecco, Italy. He was the President of Lombardy from 1995 to 2013. He is the former unofficial political spokesperson of the Communion and Liberation movement. On 21 Fe ...

for the presidency of Lombardy. After PPI was dissolved in 2002, Martinazzoli migrated to Mastella's

UDEUR The Union of Democrats for Europe ( it, Unione Democratici per l'Europa, UDEUR), also known as UDEUR Populars (''Popolari UDEUR''), was a minor centrist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Clemente Mastella, minister of Labour ...

(2004), being appointed as its president. He resigned in 2005. He died on 4 September 2011, at the age of 79.Brescia, è morto Mino Martinazzoli
/ref>

Electoral history

Notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinazzoli, Mino 1931 births 2011 deaths Italian Ministers of Defence Italian Ministers of Justice Presidents of the Province of Brescia 20th-century Italian lawyers Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Italian People's Party (1994) politicians Mayors of Brescia