Editing Politics of Italy (section)

===Political parties===

Italy's dramatic self-renewal transformed the political landscape between 1992 and 1997. Scandal investigations touched thousands of politicians, administrators and businessmen; the shift from a proportional to the [[Scorporo|scorporo system]] (with the requirement to obtain a minimum of 4% of the national vote to obtain representation) also altered the political landscape.  Party changes were sweeping. The Christian Democratic party dissolved; the Italian People's Party and the Christian Democratic Center emerged. Other major parties, such as the Socialists, saw support plummet. A new [[liberalism|liberal]] movement, {{Lang|it|[[Forza Italia]]|italic=no}}, gained wide support among moderate voters. The [[National Alliance (Italy)|National Alliance]] broke from the  neo-fascist [[Italian Social Movement]] (MSI). A trend toward two large coalitions (one on the center-left and the other on the center-right) emerged from the April 1995 regional elections. For the 1996 national elections, the center-left parties created the [[The Olive Tree (Italy)|Olive Tree]] coalition while the center-right united again under the [[House of Freedoms]]. These coalitions continued into the 2001 and 2007 national elections.<ref>Geoffrey Pridham, ''Political Parties and Coalitional Behaviour in Italy'' (2013),</ref>

{{Main|Italian general election, 2006}}

This emerging bipolarity represents a major break from the fragmented, multi-party political landscape of the postwar era, although it appears to have reached a plateau since efforts via referendums to further curtail the influence of small parties were defeated in 1999, 2000 and 2009.<ref>Günther Pallaver et al. eds. ''Populism, Populists, and the Crisis of Political Parties: A Comparison of Italy, Austria, and Germany 1990-2015'' (2018) [https://www.amazon.com/Populism-Populists-Crisis-Political-Parties-ebook/dp/B07F3HP38J/  excerpt]</ref>