Foundation The FLD was founded on 19 December 1994 as a parliamentary group within the Chamber of Deputies by twelve dissident members from the
Northern League (LN), four members of
Forza Italia (FI), two members of the
Liberal Democratic Foundation (
Alberto Michelini and
Giuseppe Siciliani),
Raffaele Costa (leader of the
Union of the Centre and
Minister of Health) and
Pietro Cerullo (a member of the
Southern Action League). The group was launched in order to continue to support
Silvio Berlusconi's
government, which was would be brought down by Northern League leader
Umberto Bossi three days after. A group of LN dissidents wanted to continue the alliance with FI. They included
Franco Rocchetta (founder and long-standing leader of the
Venetian League, LV),
Marilena Marin (secretary of the LV from 1984 to 1994),
Lucio Malan,
Furio Gubetti and
Gualberto Niccolini (president of the
Northern League Tuscany from 1988). In February 1995 Michelini left FLD and lead his party, the "Liberal Catholics", into FI.
Further organisation On 31 May 1995 FLD's assembly approved a "programmatic political manifesto" through which the group structured itself. FLD, whose main ideologies were
federalism and
liberalism, aimed at transforming Italy into a federal presidential republic and the adoption of an electoral system based on
first-past-the-post. Gubetti handed to Costa the role of party leader in the Chamber and took the formal leadership of the party. In the same year FLD participated in some
local elections together with the
Federalist Italian League (formed by LN dissidents led by
Sergio Cappelli) and the
Federalist Union (launched by
Gianfranco Miglio, formerly LN "ideologue") under the "Federalists" banner, in coalition with the
Pole for Freedoms. In July 1995 Gubetti left FLD to join FI, citing disagreements over FLD's slight distancing from the Pole.
Liberal Federalists At the end of 1995 it was announced that the FLD would be transformed into a full-fledged political party, the
Union for the New Republic (UNR); finally, in February 1996, the FLD leading members established the
Liberal Federalists (FL). The new party, allied with the FI-led Pole, had the elephant as a symbol, referring to the
Republican Party. Costa, Cerullo and
Luigi Negri were respectively appointed secretary, president and coordinator of the new party. In the
1996 Italian general election (Chamber of Deputies) the FL obtained 6,475 votes (0.02%) among party lists (having fielded a list only in the
Sicily 1 constituency) and 11,563 votes (0.03%) for first-past-the-post candidates (having fielded only three candidates in three constituencies of Sicily 1). However, some outgoing members were re-elected in first-past-the-post constituencies for the Pole and joined FI parliamentary groups: Costa, Negri, Malan, Gubbetti, Niccolini,
Umberto Giovine,
Paolo Mammola,
Mario Masiero and
Giuseppe Rossetto. During the 1995–2000 legislature of the Regional Council of
Piedmont the FL had two members, who were also affiliated to
National Alliance (AN). ==References==