The Segni Pact ( it, Patto Segni), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was a

Christian-democratic 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 ...

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

and liberal

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

. The party was founded and named after

Mario Segni Mariotto Segni (born 16 May 1939) is an Italian politician and professor of civil law. He founded several parties, which focused on fighting for electoral reform through referendums. He is the son of the politician Antonio Segni, one time Presid ...

, a former member of the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

who was a prominent promoter of

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

History

The party was founded in 1993 by the

Populars for Reform The Populars for Reform ( it, Popolari per la Riforma) was a Christian-democratic and liberal political party in Italy. It was founded in 1992 by Mario Segni as a split from Christian Democracy. The main goal of the party was electoral reform from ...

, a split from

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 ...

(DC) in 1992 whose basic goal was electoral reform from

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...

, and splinters from the Democratic Alliance (AD). The party contested the 1994 general election with DC successor the Italian People's Party (PPI) in the

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 ...

coalition, with the Pact leader

designated as "candidate for

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

". The Pact for Italy included in its lists Republicans (

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 ...

, Alberto Zorzoli, Vittorio Dotti, Danilo Poggiolini and Carla Mazzuca Poggiolini), Liberals (

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 (''Partito De ...

, Pietro Milio and

Luigi Compagna is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the econ ...

(

Giuliano Amato Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Later, he was Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted t ...

Giulio Tremonti Giulio Tremonti () (born 18 August 1947) is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 20 ...

and Claudio Nicolini),

Democratic Socialists Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

( Enrico Ferri and

Gian Franco Schietroma Gian Franco Schietroma (born 19 October 1950 in Rome) is an Italian politician and lawyer. He is the son of the former Senator and Minister of Public Function Dante Schietroma. Biography Gian Franco Schietroma graduated in law, with 110/110 cu ...

), and several former

(Mario Segni himself, Diego Masi,

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career as a footballer he was mostly utilised as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the ...

Alberto Michelini Alberto Michelini (born 25 July 1941) is an Italian journalist and politician, former Deputy and Member of the European Parliament. Biography Michelini began his journalistic career in the late 1970s as a host and special correspondent for the ...

, Enrico Indelli, Elisabetta Gardini, Michele Cossa, Livio Filippi, Vincenzo Viola, etc.). The party obtained 4.7% of the vote and 13 deputies. However soon after the election suffered several splits. The group around Michelini and Tremonti, for instance, founded the Liberal Democratic Foundation and decided to support the

Berlusconi I Cabinet The first Berlusconi government was the 51st government of the Italian Republic. It was the first right-wing and non-Christian Democrats government since World War II. Berlusconi resigned on 22 December 1994. History In order to win the Mar ...

(Tremonti even became minister of Finances) and would later join

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 ...

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

(FI). In the 1995 regional elections, the Segni Pact formed an electoral list named Pact of Democrats, along with the

Italian Socialists The Italian Socialists ( it, Socialisti Italiani, SI) were a minor social-democratic political party in Italy active from 1994 to 1998. The party was the legal successor of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), following its dissolution by the 47th ...

and AD. In 1995 the party and PPI joined the centre-left coalition, with the Pact contesting the 1996 general election as part of Italian Renewal, winning eight seats at 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 ...

(Masi, Giuseppe Bicocchi, Elisa Pozza Tasca,

, Antonino Mangiacavallo, Gianantonio Mazzocchin, Bonaventura Lamacchia, Paolo Manca) and one seat at the Senate of the Republic (Mazzuca Poggiolini). In 1999, after having contributed to the foundation of the

Democratic Union for the Republic The Democratic Union for the Republic ( it, Unione Democratica per la Repubblica, UDR) was a short-lived Christian-democratic and centrist political party in Italy. It was founded in February 1998 by Francesco Cossiga (former Prime Minister and ...

(UDR), the Pact attracted some former

Radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

from FI (

Marco Taradash Marco Taradash (born 19 May 1950, in Livorno) is an Italian politician and journalist. Biography Marco Taradash was born in Livorno on 19 May 1950 from a Tuscan mother and a New Yorker father, who came to Italy with the allied army. The surname ...

, Giuseppe Calderisi, etc.), but at the same time several members (Pozza Tasca, Poggiolini, Mazzuca Poggiolini, Filippi, Viola, etc.) left to join The Democrats. In the

1999 European Parliament election The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and L ...

the party formed a joint list with National Alliance which received 10.3% of the vote, and Segni was re-elected MEP. The Pact decided not to present lists for the 2001 general election, but Cossa, member of the Sardinian Reformers, the regional section of the party in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

, was elected deputy in a single-seat constituency of

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

for the

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole f ...

centre-right coalition. In 2003 the party was finally transformed into the

Pact of Liberal Democrats The Pact of Liberal Democrats (''Patto dei Liberaldemocratici''), also called Segni-Scognamiglio Pact (''Patto Segni-Scognamiglio''), was a liberal and Christian-democratic Italian political party. It was conceived in 2003 by Mario Segni, Car ...

(also known as the Segni-Scognamiglio Pact).

Electoral results

European Parliament

References

{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy Political parties established in 1993 1993 establishments in Italy