Apulia First is a regionalist

Regionalism (politics)

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...

-centrist

Centrism

In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...

 political party in Italy active in Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

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The party was lanched in 2005 as a civic list in support of Raffaele Fitto

Raffaele Fitto

Raffaele Fitto is an Italian politician, current Minister for Regional Business in Berlusconi IV Cabinet.-Biography:Raffaele Fitto was born in Maglie, Province of Lecce. His father, Salvatore Fitto, who was an exponent of the Christian Democracy and President of Apulia from 1985, died in...

, the outgoing President of the Region of Forza Italia

Forza Italia

Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

. In the 2005 regional election

Apulian regional election, 2005

The Apulian regional election of 2005 took place on 3-4 April 2005.Nichi Vendola defeated incumbent Raffaele Fitto ....

 PPdT gained 9.2% of the vote and 5 seats in the Regional Council, while Fitto was defeated by Nichi Vendola

Nichi Vendola

Nicola "Nichi" Vendola is an Italian left-wing politician and currently the President of Apulia.-Life:Born in Terlizzi, province of Bari , Vendola had been a member of the Italian Communist Youth Federation since the age of 14; he studied literature in university, presenting a dissertation about...

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PPdT has since organized on a stable basis and gained some autonomy from Fitto, although it can be considered a sort of sister-party of The People of Freedom

The People of Freedom

The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....

, tha party in which Fitto and Forza Italia merged in 2009. Since then PPdT is led by Salvatore Greco

Salvatore Greco

Salvatore "Ciaschiteddu" Greco was a powerful mafioso and boss of the Mafia Family in Ciaculli, an outlying suburb of Palermo famous for its citrus fruit groves, where he was born...

, a former deputy of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats. In the 2010 regional election

Apulian regional election, 2010

The Apulian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010.The outgoing President Nichi Vendola of Left Ecology Freedom was elected for a second-consecutive term, after having won the a primary election in which he beat a Democrat and having benefited from the split of the centre-right,...

the party obtained 7.1% and 4 regional councillors, including Greco.