House of Freedoms

Casa delle Libertà, or House of Freedoms in English, is an Italian right-wing party alliance, composed of Forza Italia, National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale), Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC), Socialist Party New PSI (Nuovo PSI); the small PRI and Northern League (Lega Nord), led by national media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.

Related Topics:
English - Italian - Right-wing - Party - Forza Italia - National Alliance - Union of Christian and Centre Democrats - Socialist Party New PSI - PRI - Northern League - Silvio Berlusconi

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The alliance won the 1994 elections, but the resulting government was short lived since the Northern League broke free and went to opposition.

Related Topics:
1994 - Elections - Government

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After a 5-year left-wing government, Berlusconi managed to cool down the hotheads of the League, and won the elections again (2001), this time with a stable government. It sought to undermine the proportionality rules of the Italian Additional Member System of elections by running many of its constituency candidates under a decoy list called Abolizione Scorporo, a title which explicity stated its opposition to the counting rules; its tactic largely worked because it had more support than the left-wing Olive Tree (Uniti nell'Ulivo) alliance.

Related Topics:
Left-wing - 2001 - Additional Member System - Olive Tree

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In 2003 it was routed in local elections by the Olive Tree alliance, and the League has threatened to pull out of the House of Freedoms.

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In 2005, once again, it was severely routed in regional elections, losing 6 (of 8) Italian regions. This led to a crisis of the government, particularly after the UDC pulled its four ministers out. A few weeks later, a new government was formed on April 23 2005 with the same six parties (FI, AN, LN, UDC, NPSI, PRI) and mostly the same ministers as before.

Related Topics:
2005 - April 23

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