On 21 April 1996,
the Olive Tree won
1996 general election in alliance with the
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), making
Romano Prodi Prime Minister of Italy. The Olive Tree's main component was the
Democratic Party of the Left, which contained the bulk of the former
Italian Communist Party. The PDS'
Walter Veltroni, who ran in ticket with Prodi in a long electoral campaign, served as Deputy Prime Minister, and 15 other PDS ministers joined him in cabinet alongside 10 PDS junior ministers. It was the first time that (former) Communists had taken part in government since 1947. Besides the external support of PRC, the coalition received the support also of some minor parties: the
Italian Republican Party (PRI, social-liberal),
The Network (social-democratic), the
South Tyrolean People's Party (
regionalist and Christian democratic) and some other minor parties which later merged with PDS. The average age of the ministers was 55.9 years and 14 ministers has parliamentary experience. The number of female ministers was three. ==Fall==