Popular Area ( it, Area Popolare, AP) was a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

and mainly Christian-democratic coalition, which included two parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

and the Senate. "Popular" was a reference to ''

popolarismo ''Popolarismo'' ( en, Popularism) is a political doctrine conceived by Don Luigi Sturzo which was the ideological basis for the Italian People's Party and later Christian Democracy. It inspired the French Popular Democratic Party (formed 192 ...

'', the Italian variety of Christian democracy.

History

The groups, launched in December 2014, originally included 34 deputies and 36 senators, comprising the New Centre-Right (NCD), the Union of the Centre (UdC), some dissidents from

Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his pol ...

(SC) and a splinter from the Five Star Movement (M5S). The UdC and most former SC members were previously affiliated to the

For Italy For Italy ( it, Per l'Italia, PI) was the name of two centrist and mainly Christian-democratic parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The groups were launched on 12 December 20 ...

groups. In the 2015 regional elections, Popular Area ran lists in Veneto,

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

and

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

. In

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

and Umbria the names "Popular Campania" and "For Popular Umbria" were used, respectively. Finally, in

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

and Apulia, the NCD (without the UdC) formed a joint list with Marche 2020 and Francesco Schittulli's movement, respectively, under the Popular Area banner. The best results were obtained in Apulia (6.0%), Campania (4.0%) and Marche (4.0%); in Apulia and Marche the UdC, which was in alliance with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), scored 6.0% and 3.4%, respectively. In the run-up of the 2016 constitutional referendum the UdC campaigned for the "No", while the NCD was among the keenest supporters of the "Yes". After the referendum, which saw a huge defeat of the "Yes" side, the UdC left Popular Area altogether. However, some UdC splinters, notably including Pier Ferdinando Casini, Gianpiero D'Alia and Gian Luca Galletti, launched an alternative party named Centrists for Europe (CpE) and confirmed their alliance with the NCD within Popular Area. In March 2017 the NCD was dissolved into Popular Alternative (AP) and also Popular Area was set aside.

Composition

The alliance was originally composed by the following two parties: Since December 2016, the alliance is composed by the following parties:

Electoral results

Regional Councils

Leadership

*Group Leader in the

: Nunzia De Girolamo (2014–2015), Maurizio Lupi (2015–2017) *Group Leader in the Senate:

Maurizio Sacconi Maurizio Sacconi (Conegliano, 13 July 1950) is an Italian politician from Veneto. A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Unde ...

(2014–2015),

Renato Schifani Renato Maria Giuseppe Schifani (; born 11 May 1950
.) is an Italian politician who has served as the

(2015–2016), Laura Bianconi (2016–2017)

References

{{Italian political parties 2014 establishments in Italy 2017 disestablishments in Italy Defunct political party alliances in Italy Political parties disestablished in 2017 Political parties established in 2014