The Pact of Liberal Democrats (Patto dei Liberaldemocratici, PLD) is a liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 and Christian-democratic

Christian Democracy

Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...

 Italian political party.

It was conceived in 2003 by Mario Segni

Mario Segni

Mariotto Segni, more often known as Mario, is an Italian politician, son of Antonio Segni, one time President of the Republic of Italy....

, Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini

Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini

Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini is an Italian Italian economist and politician. He is a university professor in applied economics and was chancellor of the Luiss University of Rome ....

 (ex-PLI

Italian Liberal Party

The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...

, ex-PL

Liberal Party (Italy)

The Liberal Party was a minor liberal political party in Italy.It was founded in 1994 by former members of the Italian Liberal Party who wanted to join the centre-right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi. Most of its leading figures were also members of Forza Italia: Stefano De Luca, Carlo...

, ex-FI

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....

, ex-UDR

Democratic Union for the Republic

The Democratic Union for the Republic was a short-lived centrist political party in Italy.It was founded in February 1998 by Francesco Cossiga, Clemente Mastella , Rocco Buttiglione , Mario Segni The Democratic Union for the Republic (Unione Democratica per la Repubblica, UDR) was a short-lived...

, ex-UpR

Union for the Republic (Italy)

The Union for the Republic was a centrist Italian political party.It was formed by Francesco Cossiga and his followers after the break-up of the Democratic Union for the Republic in 1999. Most of its members, with the notable exception of Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini, joined Forza Italia prior to the...

, ex-FdL

Federation of Italian Liberals

The Federation of Italian Liberals is a tiny liberal party in Italy, founded in 1994 by Raffaello Morelli and Valerio Zanone...

 and ex-DE

European Democracy

European Democracy was a minor christian-democratic Italian political party.It was founded in 2000 by Sergio D'Antoni , Giulio Andreotti and Ortensio Zecchino, all three spliters from the Italian People's Party...

) and Michele Cossa (leader of the Sardinian Reformers

Sardinian Reformers

The Sardinian Reformers is a liberal and Christian-democratic political party in Sardinia based in Sardinia and led by Massimo Fantola....

), as a 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...

 party alternative to the centre-left. The party is aimed at changing Italian political system and especially Italian centre-right, which is perceived by its leaders as populist

Populism

Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

 under the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

. The party is basically the continuation of the late Patto Segni

Patto Segni

Patto Segni was a Christian-democratic and liberal political party in Italy, named after Mario Segni.-History:The party was founded in 1993 as a split from Democratic Alliance and as the continuation of the Populars for the Reform, a split from Christian Democracy in 1992, whose principal aim was...

.

Segni and Scognamiglio launched PLD in time for contesting the 2004 European Parliament election

European Parliament election, 2004 (Italy)

Elections to the European Parliament were held in Italy on 12 and 13 June 2004. Italy's highly fragmented party system made it hard to identify an overall trend, but the results were generally seen as a defeat for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a victory for the centre-left opposition...

, in which they hoped to attract many disgruntled centre-right voters. Instead PLD scored only 0.5% (7.4% in Sardinia, where its regional division, the Sardinian Reformers, is aligned with the House of Freedoms

House of Freedoms

The House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...

).

After that the centre-right decided again to rally behind Berlusconi, Segni and Scognamiglio decided not to present their list for the 2006 general election

Italian general election, 2006

In the Italian general election, 2006 for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy held on April 9 and April 10, 2006 the incumbent prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right House of Freedoms, was narrowly defeated by Romano Prodi, leader of the center-left The...

, in which Berlusconi's Forza Italia scored 23.7% and the Sardinian Reformers elected a Senator, Massimo Fantola, in UDC list.

At the present, the party is a much minor force in Italian politics, anyway Mario Segni is in the spotlight for proposing, along with Professor Giovanni Guzzetta, Arturo Parisi

Arturo Parisi

Arturo Parisi is an Italian politician, leader of the Ulivist faction of the Democratic Party and four-time member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies...

, Antonio Martino

Antonio Martino

Antonio Martino is an Italian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Italian Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia, holding party card no. 2.-Career:...

 and Daniele Capezzone

Daniele Capezzone

Daniele Capezzone is a centre-right Italian politician.He currently is the spokesman for the People of Freedom.From July 14, 2001 to November 4, 2006, he was secretary of the Italian Radicals, a liberal, pro-market economy, libertarian movement associated with the Transnational Radical Party...

, a referendum aimed at changing the electoral system. If this referendum takes place and succeeds, Italy will be close to a two-party political system, as the party which comes first in the election, whatever is its score, will be returned in the Chamber of Deputies with 340 MPs out of 630.