Popular Democratic Front (Italy)


The Popular Democratic Front, shortened name of the Popular Democratic Front for Freedom, Peace, Labour was a political alliance of political parties in Italy.

History

The alliance was formed for the 1948 general election and consisted of the Italian Communist Party and Italian Socialist Party. Its symbol was the picture of Italian Unification hero Giuseppe Garibaldi within a star. The Social Christian Party and Sardinian Action Party were not allied with the coalition, and formed their own electoral lists. The right wing of PSI opposed the Front, left the party, and organise the list of Socialist Unity, which later became the Italian Democratic Socialist Party.
The elections of 1948 was maybe the most important one in Italian republican history, the future alliance with United States or with the Soviet Union being in game. The Popular Front managed to obtain 31.0% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies and 30.8% of the vote for the Senate. Following the defeat of the FDP by Christian Democracy, Italy became a founding member of the NATO in 1949.

Composition

It was composed of the following political parties:

Election results