History
Early groups of Ulivists were formed in 1995–1996, during the campaign for the 1996 general election, by close supporters of Romano Prodi who, as Prodi himself, were not members of any party of The Olive Tree. Ulivists organised "Clubs for Prodi" and the "Citizens for The Olive Tree" association. Although most Ulivists took part to the campaign only as activists and remained grassroots supporters during the Prodi II Cabinet, some were elected with the Italian People's Party–Democratic Union.
When Romano Prodi was ousted from his post of Prime Minister of Italy, he launched a new party with grassroots activists, disgruntled Populars, Democratic Union of Antonio Maccanico, the Movement for Democracy – The Net of Leoluca Orlando, Italy of Values of Antonio Di Pietro (who left the party in 2000 and re-established an independent Italy of Values) and the so-called Movement of Mayors of Francesco Rutelli and Massimo Cacciari.
Prodi led the party to a good result in the 1999 European Parliament election (7.7%). Some months later Prodi was nominated President of the European Commission and Arturo Parisi succeeded him as party leader. In early 2000 Parisi asked the Democrats of the Left to dissolve into a new "Democratic Party".
In 2000 The Democrats agreed with the Italian People's Party, Italian Renewal and the UDEUR Populars to form a joint list for the 2001 general election. The list, which gained a considerable success (14.5%), was transformed into a party in early 2002 under the name of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy.
The core of The Democrats, through the Ulivists association, were an often dissenting member of that party and are now a minority faction within the Democratic Party.
Read more about this topic: The Democrats (Italy)
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