Popular Area

{{Infobox political party

| colorcode = {{party color|Popular Area}}

| name = Popular Area

| native_name = Area Popolare

| logo =

| leader = Angelino Alfano

| foundation = 11–16 December 2014

| dissolution = 21–29 March 2017

| headquarters =

| predecessor = New Centre-Right – Union of the Centre

| successor = Popular Civic List

| ideology = Christian democracy
Social conservatism
Pro-Europeanism

| position = Centre to centre-right

| european = {{nowrap|European People's Party}}

| international =

| europarl = EPP Group

| website =

| country = Italy

}}

Popular Area ({{langx|it|Area Popolare}}, AP) was a centre-right and mainly Christian-democratic coalition, which included two parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

"Popular" was a reference to popolarismo, the Italian variety of Christian democracy.

History

The groups, launched in December 2014, originally included 34 deputies and 36 senators, comprising the New Centre-Right (NCD), the Union of the Centre (UdC), some dissidents from Civic Choice (SC) and a splinter from the Five Star Movement (M5S).{{Cite web |url=http://www.loccidentale.it/node/136059 |title=Il dado è tratto per Area Popolare | l'Occidentale |access-date=2014-12-15 |archive-date=2015-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216071214/http://loccidentale.it/node/136059 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.infooggi.it/articolo/parlamento-nascono-i-gruppi-di-area-popolare-a-formarli-membri-di-ncd-e-udc-e-scelta-civica/74279/ |title=Parlamento: nascono i gruppi di area popolare, a formarli membri di Ncd, Udc e Scelta Civica |publisher=InfoOggi.it |date= |accessdate=2015-06-05}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/12/06/senato-lex-m5s-anitori-passa-ad-area-popolare-sosterro-governo-renzi/1254963/ |title=Senato, l'ex M5s Anitori passa ad Area popolare: "Sosterrò il governo Renzi" - Il Fatto Quotidiano |publisher=Ilfattoquotidiano.it |date= 6 December 2014|accessdate=2015-06-05}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.loccidentale.it/node/135993 |title=Fabiola Anitori entra nel gruppo Area Popolare | l'Occidentale |access-date=2014-12-15 |archive-date=2015-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403141201/http://loccidentale.it/node/135993 |url-status=dead }} The UdC and most former SC members were previously affiliated to the For Italy groups.

In the 2015 regional elections, Popular Area ran lists in Veneto, Liguria and Tuscany. In Campania and Umbria the names "Popular Campania" and "For Popular Umbria" were used, respectively. Finally, in Marche and Apulia, the NCD (without the UdC) formed a joint list with Marche 2020 and Francesco Schittulli's movement, respectively, under the Popular Area banner. The best results were obtained in Apulia (6.0%), Campania (4.0%) and Marche (4.0%); in Apulia and Marche the UdC, which was in alliance with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), scored 6.0% and 3.4%, respectively.

In the run-up of the 2016 constitutional referendum the UdC campaigned for the "No", while the NCD was among the keenest supporters of the "Yes". After the referendum, which saw a huge defeat of the "Yes" side, the UdC left Popular Area altogether. However, some UdC splinters, notably including Pier Ferdinando Casini, Gianpiero D'Alia and Gian Luca Galletti, launched an alternative party named Centrists for Europe (CpE) and confirmed their alliance with the NCD within Popular Area.{{cite web|url=http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2016/12/06/area-popolare-si-spacca-dopo-il-referendum-udc-lesperienza-forse-mai-decollata-si-conclude-qui/3241732/|title=Area Popolare si spacca dopo il referendum. Udc: "L'esperienza, forse mai decollata, si conclude qui"|date=Dec 6, 2016|website=Il Fatto Quotidiano}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/fuggi-fuggi-senato-i-centristi-guardano-fi-e-alfano-resta-1339873.html|title=Fuggi fuggi al Senato: i centristi guardano a Fi. E Alfano resta da solo|date=Dec 7, 2016|website=ilGiornale.it}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.ilgiornaleditalia.org/news/politica/883499/-Alfano-succube-di-Renzi-.html |title="Alfano succube di Renzi, ce ne andiamo" - giornaleditalia |access-date=2016-12-07 |archive-date=2016-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207170147/http://www.ilgiornaleditalia.org/news/politica/883499/-Alfano-succube-di-Renzi-.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|title=Articolo dall'Archivio Storico|url=https://agvilvelino.it/articolo-archivio-storico/|access-date=2021-05-13|website=AGV|language=it-IT}}

In March 2017 the NCD was dissolved into Popular Alternative (AP) and also Popular Area was set aside.

Composition

The alliance was originally composed by the following two parties:

class=wikitable style=text-align:left
colspan=2|Party

!Ideology

!Leader

bgcolor="{{party color|New Centre-Right}}" |

| New Centre-Right (NCD)

| Conservatism
Christian democracy

| Angelino Alfano

bgcolor="{{party color|Union of the Centre (2008)}}" |

| Union of the Centre (UdC)

| Christian democracy
Social conservatism

| Pier Ferdinando Casini
Lorenzo Cesa

Since December 2016, the alliance is composed by the following parties:

class=wikitable style=text-align:left
colspan=2|Party

!Ideology

!Leader

bgcolor="{{party color|New Centre-Right}}" |

| New Centre-Right (NCD)

| Conservatism
Christian democracy

| Angelino Alfano

style="background:lightblue;"|

| Centrists for Europe (CpE)

| Christian democracy
Centrism

| Pier Ferdinando Casini
Gianpiero D'Alia

Electoral results

=Regional Councils=

class=wikitable
Region

! Latest election

! # of
overall votes

! % of
overall vote

! # of
overall seats won

Abruzzo

! 2014

| 40,219 (#4)

| 5.9

| {{Composition bar|1|31|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Apulia

! 2015

| 101,817 (#7)

| 6.4

| {{Composition bar|4|51|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Calabria

! 2014

| 101,817

| 8.2

| {{Composition bar|3|30|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Campania

! 2015

| 68,594 (#5)

| 5.9

| {{Composition bar|1|51|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Emilia-Romagna

! 2014

| 31,635 (#7)

| 2.6

| {{Composition bar|0|50|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Liguria

! 2015

| 9,269 (#9)

| 1.7

| {{Composition bar|1|31|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Marche

! 2015

| 21,049 (#7)

| 4.0

| {{Composition bar|1|31|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Piedmont

! 2014

| 49,059 (#7)

| 2.5

| {{Composition bar|0|50|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Tuscany

! 2015

| 15,808 (#8)

| 1.2

| {{Composition bar|0|41|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Umbria

! 2015

| 9,285 (#9)

| 2.6

| {{Composition bar|0|20|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Veneto

! 2015

| 37,937 (#11)

| 2.0

| {{Composition bar|1|51|hex={{party color|Popular Area}}}}

Leadership

References