Editing Transnational Radical Party (section)

===Background and foundation===
In the [[1979 European Parliament election in Italy|1979 European Parliament election]], the first in which voters voted directly for the [[European Parliament]], the PR obtained its best result ever countrywide (3.7% of the vote, resulting in the election of three [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]]s, including Pannella). Following the election, the PR was involved with the [[European Green Party|Coordination of European Green and Radical Parties]] (CEGRP) and its unsuccessful efforts to create a single pan-European platform for green and radical politics.<ref name="Bomberg2005">{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Bomberg|title=Green Parties and Politics in the European Union|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7WIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA70|date=2 August 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-85145-4|page=70}}</ref> More importantly, since then, the party projected itself into international politics.

In 1988, after a decade during which transnational issues and values were emphasised, the PR's congress decided that the party would be transformed during 1989 into the TRP and that the latter would not present itself in elections (in order to avoid competition with the other parties and stimulate cooperation instead), while permitting "dual membership" with other parties.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Un programma politico|author=Sergio Stanzani|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/un-programma-politico|journal=Notizie Radicali|issue=51|date=11 March 1988|access-date=26 February 2017|language=IT}}</ref> The new symbol featuring the stylised face of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/il-simbolo-di-gandhi-fa-la-differenza|title=Il simbolo di Gandhi fa la differenza|author=Gianfranco Spadaccia|journal= Atti del Convegno "I Radicali e la Nonviolenza: Un Metodo, Una Speranza"|location=Roma|date=29–30 April 1988|access-date=26 February 2016|language=IT}}</ref> was the point of no return in the transformation of the PR into an instrument of political fight completely at disposal of issue-oriented campaigns.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Lettera aperta di Mauro Mellini al Primo segretario del Partito Radicale Sergio Stanzani|journal=Notizie Radicali|date=30 November 1988|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/lettera-aperta-di-mauro-mellini-al-primo-segretario-del-partito-radicale-sergio-stanzani|issue=262|access-date=26 February 2017|language=IT}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Massimo Teodori|title=L'illusione transnazionale e transpartitica|journal=Marco Pannella — Un Eretico Liberale Nella Crisi della Repubblica|publisher=Casa editrice Marsilio|location=Venezia|date=1996|url=http://www.eclettico.org/cr/libri/teodori/diaspora.htm#_Toc490915674|access-date=26 February 2017|language=IT}}</ref>

All this provoked great controversy among Radicals. Some long-time members left in order to continue their own activity in other parties or retire from public life. However, also most TRP Radicals continued to be actively engaged in politics, sometimes supported by the TRP itself, sometimes seeking hospitality in traditional parties or creating entirely new electoral lists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radicalparty.org/it/content/lorganizzazione-politica-dellantiproibizionismo|title=L'organizzazione politica dell'antiproibizionismo|date=1 July 1991|access-date=26 February 2016|language=IT}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2016/05/in-memoria-di-marco-pannella-una-storia.html|title=In memoria di Marco Pannella: una storia, tanti simboli|date=19 May 2016|access-date=26 February 2017|author=Gabriele Maestri|language=IT}}</ref> In the [[1989 European Parliament election in Italy|1989 European Parliament election]] Pannella stood as a successful candidate of the joint list between the PLI (his former party) and the [[Italian Republican Party]], some Radicals formed the "Anti-prohibition List on Drugs" (1 MEP), while others joined the [[Rainbow Greens (Italy)|Rainbow Greens]] (2 MEPs). In the run-up of the [[1992 Italian general election|1992 general election]] the Pannella List was formed.

[[Sergio Stanzani]] and [[Emma Bonino]] were the first secretary and president of the party, respectively. In 1993 Bonino, who would be appointed to the [[European Commission]] in 1995, replaced Stanzani, and Pannella became president.