Italy: Political parties at a glance

Forza Italia has already undergone dissolution as well as re-establishment since its founding in 1994. Founded by a business enterprise, the party offered a lot of room for controversial discussions. Thus, in addition to an economic liberal point of view and a conservative ethical orientation, it also focuses on populism. In a merger with Il Popolo della Libertà, Forza Italia was able to win a majority in parliament in 2008.

The Fratelli d'Italia, also known as the Brothers of Italy, is a right-wing nationalist, fascist as well as populist party represented in parliament with 37 deputies. The origins of the Fratelli d'Italia lie in the Movimento Sociale Italiano party, which was founded in 1946 and was already known as a radical and fascist party at the time. Thus, to this day, the two parties share many viewpoints, such as opposition to abortion and skepticism of a high immigration rate. The Fratelli d'Italia do not reject the European Union per se, but call for strongly confederal reforms.

Founded in 1989 from a merger of many small parties, the Lega party is particularly strong in the north, hence its old name "Lega Nord". Despite various currents, the political current is often classified as center-right. In addition to demands to keep migration policies strict, the Lega primarily advocates the federalization of Italy. With 131 seats, it is the strongest party in the Italian parliament.

With its founding year in 2009, the Movimento 5 Stelle is one of the young parties in Italian politics. The Movimento 5 Stelle, often known as the Five Star Movement, focuses on five primary issues in its election program. Thus, issues of general development, environment, transportation, energy, as well as water are the party's core mission. The Movimento 5 Stelle is considered EU-skeptical as well as populist. The Movimento 5 Stelle follows a young and innovative course in which the electorate is to be more involved. For example, voting and joint projects are sometimes made available for selection on the Internet.

Noi con l'Italia or "We with Italy" is a Christian democratic and liberal conservative party that represents an amalgamation of even smaller parties with similar political views. Together with Forza Italia, Noi con l'Italia represents the political center in the Italian political sphere. Today it is considered a small party with no seats in the Senate. On issues of migration policy, Noi con l'Italia is not hostile, but favors a regulated and controlled process of immigration and repatriation of rejected asylum seekers.

The Partito Democratico is one of Italy's larger parties and is known for a social-democratic, left-liberal, and Christian-social outlook. The party's precursor is the so-called "Historical Compromise," which was intended to act as a mediation attempt between Communists and Christian Democrats in the 1970s. The revolutionary idea of communism was rejected; instead, the Partito Democratico focused on social issues and the interests of workers. Individual currents within the party are also conspicuous for having members who are both strongly Christian and left-liberal.

Italy's exit from the European Union, that is the primary goal of the Italexit party. The well-known senator Gianluigi Paragone created it in the summer of 2020 in response to Britain's exit from the European Union (Brexit). With no seats in parliament, the party is also informally considered a political movement, rather than a full-fledged party. Although the topic of a possible Italexit keeps coming up, the Italexit party is considered more of a minor force within the Italian political spectrum.