The New Italian Socialist Party (Italian: Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano, NPSI) is a small political party in Italy which professes a social-democratic ideology and claims to be the successor to the old Italian Socialist Party, which was disbanded after the judiciary tempest of the early 1990s (see Mani pulite). The party functions as an associate party or internal faction of the main party of the Italian centre-right, The People of Freedom (PdL).
Most of the party's members are former followers of Bettino Craxi, whom they often portray as a victim of political persecution, notwithstanding the many convictions he received on corruption charges. That was why the party has been an ally of the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition for most of its history, as the centre-left was dominated by former Communists who were the main opponents of the Socialists, so that most of them had earlier joined Forza Italia.
The main leader of the party has been Gianni De Michelis, who however left the party in 2007, being replaced by Stefano Caldoro. In 2007 several members left to join the centre-left Socialist Party, while what remained of the NPSI was merged into the centre-right PdL. Since 2010, the party leader Caldoro has been President of Campania for the PdL.
Read more about New Italian Socialist Party: History, Leadership
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