Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity
{{Short description|Defunct political party in Italy}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode = {{party color|Monarchist National Party}}
| name = Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity
|native_name = Partito Democratico Italiano di Unità Monarchica
|logo =
|logo_size = 140px
| foundation = {{start date|1959|4|11|df=y}}
| dissolution = {{end date and age|1972|7|11|df=y}}
| merger = People's Monarchist Party
National Monarchist Party
| merged = Italian Social Movement
Monarchist Alliance
| leader1_title = Secretary
| leader1_name = Alfredo Covelli
| leader2_title = President
| leader2_name = Achille Lauro
| newspaper = Italia Monarchica
| membership_year= 1961
| membership = 50,000
| ideology = Monarchism{{cite news|title=I monarchici si sono unificati fondando il "Partito Democratico Italiano"|date=12 April 1959|publisher=La Stampa|pages=1|author=Vittorio Gorresio|author-link=Vittorio Gorresio}}
| position = Right-wing
| international = None
| european =
| europarl =
| colours = {{Colour box|{{party color|Monarchist National Party}}|border=darkgray}} Blue
| country = Italy
}}{{Conservatism in Italy}}
The Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity ({{langx|it|Partito Democratico Italiano di Unità Monarchica}}, PDIUM) was an Italian monarchist political party.
History
The PDIUM was founded in 1959 as the Italian Democratic Party (Partito Democratico Italiano), a merger of the People's Monarchist Party and the National Monarchist Party. It became the PDIUM in 1961.
The new party, like its predecessors, was hampered by provisions in the Italian Constitution of 1946 making it all but impossible to restore the monarchy short of adopting a new constitution. The document specifically forbade a referendum on changing the republican form of government, and (until 2002) barred male members of the House of Savoy from returning to Italy. It was never able to repeat the results of its predecessors: electoral support for its monarchist cause shrank in the 1963 general election (1.8%) and in those of 1968 (1.3%), due to the successes of the Italian Liberal Party (respectively 7.0 and 5.8%).
In 1970, the party formed an alliance with the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) known as the National Right ({{langx|it|Destra Nazionale}}). In 1972, PDIUM fully merged into the MSI. Alfredo Covelli, long-time monarchist leader, was elected president of MSI. In 1976 Covelli led a moderate split of MSI and established National Democracy.
A small part of the party, more tied to liberal and Risorgimento inspiration, however, refused the alliance with the political heirs of fascism and gave life to the Monarchist Alliance.
Electoral results
=Italian Parliament=
| class=wikitable style="width:50%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid" |
| colspan=6|Chamber of Deputies |
| width=13%|Election year
! width=16%|Votes ! width=6%|% ! width=1%|Seats ! width=8%|+/– ! width=19%|Leader |
|---|
| 1963
| 536,948 (7th) | 1.75 | {{Composition bar|8|630|hex={{party color|Monarchist National Party}}}} | {{center|{{decrease}} 3}} | rowspan="2" | {{center|Alfredo Covelli}} |
| 1968
| 414,507 (8th) | 1.30 | {{Composition bar|6|630|hex={{party color|Monarchist National Party}}}} | {{center|{{decrease}} 2}} |
| class=wikitable style="width:50%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid" |
| colspan=6|Senate of the Republic |
| width=13%|Election year
! width=16%|Votes ! width=6%|% ! width=1%|Seats ! width=8%|+/– ! width=19%|Leader |
|---|
| 1963
| 689,708 (7th) | 2.51 | {{Composition bar|3|315|hex={{party color|Monarchist National Party}}}} | {{center|{{increase}} 1}} | rowspan="2" | {{center|Alfredo Covelli}} |
| 1968
| 605,051 (7th) | 2.58 | {{Composition bar|2|315|hex={{party color|Monarchist National Party}}}} | {{center|{{decrease}} 1}} |
Notes
{{Reflist}}
{{Historical Italian political parties}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1959 establishments in Italy
Category:Political parties established in 1959
Category:Political parties disestablished in 1972
Category:Monarchist parties in Italy