Olivists
Ulivisti |
|
---|---|
Leader | Romano Prodi |
Other members |
Arturo Parisi Rosy Bindi Sandro Gozi Gad Lerner Vittorio Prodi |
Ideology |
Progressivism Christian left Social democracy Social liberalism |
Political position | Centre-left |
The Olivists (Ulivisti) are a faction within the Democratic Party (PD), a political party in Italy.
The group includes both Christian left politicians, social democrats and social liberals. They have been close supporters of Romano Prodi, hence the term Prodiani, and want the party to be stuck in the tradition of The Olive Tree. The group, whose long-standing leader of the group has been Arturo Parisi, is the bulk of the former party of Prodi, The Democrats and of the former internal opposition within Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy.
The Ulivists are keen supporters of the use of primary elections and the original idea of Democratic Party according to Prodi, a party open to all the centre-left forces or, at least, to an alliance with all them, including Italy of Values and the communist parties.
Early groups of Ulivists were formed in 1995–1996, during the campaign for the 1996 general election, by close supporters of Romano Prodi who, as him, were not members of any party of The Olive Tree. Ulivists organized "Clubs for Prodi" and the "Citizens for The Olive Tree" association. Although most Ulivists took part to the campaign only as activists and remained grassroots supporters during Prodi II Cabinet, some were elected with the Italian People's Party–Democratic Union.