Forza Italia

Forza Italia is an Italian political party. It is headed by Silvio Berlusconi, who also is Prime Minister of Italy.

Internal structure

Forza Italia has a president (currently Silvio Berlusconi), a vice-president, a Presidential Committee (Comitato di Presidenza) and a National Council. Moreover it has thematic departments and regional, provincial or metropolitan coordination boards plus a lot of affiliate clubs (Club Azzurro) all over Italy. On at least one occasion, Berlusconi used his own financial means to pay debts accumulated by the party, drawing criticism from other political forces about the party being too closely related to one person only.

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It is claimed that Forza Italia has no internal democracy, because there is no way of changing the leader of the party from below. Instead, key posts in the party structure are appointed by Berlusconi or his delegates. Party conventions normally do not have elections to choose the party leadership, but are more like events arranged for propaganda purposes. However, Berlusconi is highly popular among his party fellows, and it is unlikely he could be overthrown if such an election were to occur.

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