Foundation and early years In October 1998, the PRC was divided between those who wanted to stop supporting
Romano Prodi's
first government, led by PRC secretary
Fausto Bertinotti; and those who wanted to continue the alliance, led by PRC president Cossutta. The central committee endorsed Bertinotti's line, but Cossutta and his followers decided to support Prodi nonetheless. The votes of
cossuttiani were not enough and the government lost a confidence vote in Parliament. The dissidents, who controlled the majority of deputies and senators, split and formed a rival communist outfit, the PdCI, which immediately joined the
first cabinet led by
Massimo D'Alema, leader of the
Democrats of the Left and first post-communist to hold the job of
Prime Minister of Italy. Under D'Alema, PdCI's
Oliviero Diliberto served as
Minister of Justice. Despite the split of most of PRC's parliamentary representation, the PRC remained more popular than the PdCI with voters, both in the
1999 European Parliament election (4.3% to 2.0%) and the
2001 general election (5.0% to 1.7%).
Leadership of Diliberto Diliberto, who had been elected secretary in 2000, led the PdCI to continue its participation in the
centre-left coalition (known at the time as
The Olive Tree) at the
2001 general election, which registered a victory by
Silvio Berlusconi's
centre-right House of Freedoms coalition. The PdCI obtained 1.7% of the vote and a handful of deputies and senators. In the
2006 general election, the party was a member of the winning
The Union coalition and won 2.4% of the vote and 16 deputies Subsequently, the PdCI entered Prodi's
second government, which would last until January 2008. In the meantime, Diliberto had become the undisputed leader of the party and since 2005 clashes between him and Cossutta became frequent. In 2006, the latter resigned from president and was replaced by
Antonino Cuffaro. In 2007, Cossutta left the party altogether. For the
2008 general election, the PdCI formed a joint list named
Rainbow Left (SA) along with the PRC, the Greens and
Democratic Left under Bertinotti's leadership. SA obtained a mere 3.1% (compared to 10.2% won by the constituent parties individually two years before) and no seats. In 2008, Diliberto was re-elected secretary and proposed to the PRC a re-unification of the two parties through a "communist constituent assembly".
Out of Parliament In the run-up of the
2009 European Parliament election, the PdCI formed along with the PRC and minor groups the
Anticapitalist and Communist List. The list got 3.4% of the vote and no
MEPs. In April 2009, the list was transformed into the
Federation of the Left, which would be disbanded by the end of 2012 and officially dissolved in 2015. In the
2013 general election, the PdCI ran within
Civil Revolution along with the PRC, the Greens,
Italy of Values and minor groups, gaining 2.2% of the vote and no seats. The PdCI did not contest the
2014 European Parliament election, withdrawing its early support for
The Other Europe electoral list. Before and after the 2009 European election, the PdCI lost its right- and left-wings, respectively. In February,
Unite the Left, led by
Katia Bellillo (a former minister) and
Umberto Guidoni (an incumbent MEP), left the party in order to participate in the election with the Left and Freedom list and would eventually merge into
Left Ecology Freedom. In June,
Marco Rizzo (the other incumbent MEP and former Diliberto's number two) was expelled and would later form the hard-line
Communist Party. In July 2013, Diliberto stepped down from secretary after thirteen years and was replaced by
Cesare Procaccini, a 65-year-old former metalworker from
Marche. == Election results ==