Pannella List

The Pannella List (Italian: Lista Pannella, LP) is a liberal and libertarian association, which was also the electoral list of the Italian Radicals between 1992 and 1999, when it was replaced by the Bonino List.

Pannella List

Lista Pannella
FounderMarco Pannella
PresidentMaurizio Turco
SecretaryLaura Arconti
Founded1992 (1992)
Preceded byAntiprohibitionists on Drugs
(only in elections)
Succeeded byBonino List
(only in elections)
HeadquartersVia di Torre Argentina, 76
Rome
NewspaperRadio Radicale (FM radio)
IdeologyLiberalism
Libertarianism
Pro-Europeanism
Political positionCentre
National affiliationPole of Freedoms (1994–96)
Pole of Good Government (1994–96)
Pole for Freedoms (1996)[1]
European affiliationnone
European Parliament groupEuropean Radical Alliance (1994–99)
Colours  Gold

Its standard-bearer was Marco Pannella (who died in 2016), who had been the main leader of the Radical Party (PR) from 1963 to 1989, and later of the Transnational Radical Party and the Italian Radicals. The List still functions as an association in charge of some of the Radical assets, notably including the party's headquarters and Radio Radicale.[2]

History

In 1989 the PR was transformed into the Transnational Radical Party, an NGO working at the UN-level and coordinating the efforts of several national parties and groupings mainly in support of human rights. Individual Radicals, who always had the right to "double membership" (i.e. being members of another party), joined different parties, while remaining committed members of the PR/PRT. In that year's European Parliament election, Pannella ran in the LiberalRepublican joint list, Marco Taradash launched the "Anti-prohibition List on Drugs", several joined the Rainbow Greens (Francesco Rutelli, Adelaide Aglietta, etc.), and Giovanni Negri was a candidate for the Italian Democratic Socialist Party.

In the run-up of the 1992 general election the Rainbow Greens joined forces with the Federation of Green Lists to form a full-fledged party named Federation of the Greens, and other Radicals (Marcello Pera, Massimo Teodori, etc.) launched the "Yes Referendum" list, while the bulk of the former PR joined Pannella and organised themselves in the Pannella Clubs' Movement (which would field lists for Italian elections from 1992 to 1999). In the election the LP won 1.2% of the vote, while Yes Referendum stopped at 0.8% and the newly formed Federation of the Greens 2.8%.

The PR had historically been considered a left-libertarian party and often proposed itself as the most extreme opposition to the Italian political establishment, thus, when Silvio Berlusconi entered the political arena in 1994, Pannella decided to form an alliance with him in order to start an (economically) "liberal revolution", as opposed to the conservative and statist political establishment. The LP's alliance with Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) was, however, controversial and temporary.

In the 1994 general election the LP won 3.5% of the vote (despite not being present in some key regions), below the required threshold, but still had six deputies elected from FI lists, plus two senators. The Radicals were not involved in Berlusconi's first government (1994–1999), but the elected Radical deputies and senators sat with FI and Emma Bonino, the Radicals' number two, was appointed to the European Commission. The twisted relationship between Pannella and Berlusconi, whose allies included socially conservative parties opposed to the Radicals (notably including National Alliance), soon ended. Following the 1994 European Parliament election, the two Radical MEPs formed the European Radical Alliance group with MEPs from the French Radical Energy and some of the European Free Alliance's regionalist member parties.[3]

For the 1996 general election Pannella teamed up with Vittorio Sgarbi. In the election, during which most of the protest and libertarian votes were attracted by Lega Nord, the Pannella–Sgarbi List won a mere 1.9%, resulting in the election of only a senator, Pietro Milio.

In the run-up of the 1999 European Parliament election, the LP was replaced by the Bonino List. The new list was named after Bonino because of the popularity that the European Commissioner had acquired during her term (1995–1999) and the subsequent "Emma for President" campaign. In 2001 the LP was replaced by the newly formed Italian Radicals as the main Radical political outfit in Italy. After that, the List continued to be active only as an association sponsoring Radical campaigns (including Bonino List's electoral campaigns) and managing Radical assets, notably including the PR/PRT's headquarters and Radio Radicale, the party's FM radio.

After Pannella's death in May 2016, Maurizio Turco and Laura Arconti were elected president and secretary of the association, respectively.[4]

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/– Leader
1992 485,694 (#12) 1.24
7 / 630
New
Marco Pannella
1994 1,359,283 (#8) 3.51
0 / 630
6
Marco Pannella
1996 702,988 (#10) 1.88
0 / 630
Marco Pannella
Senate of the Republic
Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/– Leader
1992 166,708 (#16) 0.50
0 / 315
New
Marco Pannella
1994 767,765 (#6) 2.32
1 / 315
1
Marco Pannella
1996 509,826 (#6) 1.56
1 / 315
Marco Pannella

European Parliament

Election year # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
+/– Leader
1994 702,717 (#9) 2.13
2 / 87
New
Marco Pannella

Leadership

  • President: Marco Pannella (1992–2016), Maurizio Turco (2016–present)
  • Secretary: Maurizio Turco (1992–1995), Danilo Quinto (1995–2005), Maurizio Turco (2005–2016), Laura Arconti (2016–present)

References

  1. Stefan Köppl (2007). Das politische System Italiens: Eine Einführung. Springer-Verlag. p. 98. ISBN 978-3-531-14068-1.
  2. http://www.radicali.it/contenuto/statuto-lista-marco-pannella
  3. Peter Lynch (1998). "Co-operation between regionalists parties at the level of the European Union: the European Free Alliance". In Lieven De Winter; Huri Tursan (eds.). Regionalist Parties in Western Europe. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-134-71201-4.
  4. http://www.radicali.it/contenuto/statuto-lista-marco-pannella
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