('''CDL''';
Italian for '''House of Freedoms'''), is a major
Italian Center-right Political Alliance led by national media tycoon
Silvio Berlusconi . It is composed of several
Political Parties :
The
Union Of Christian And Centre Democrats was once part of the coalition but has since left.
The alliance won the
1994 General Elections under the name , but the resulting
Government was short-lived, as the Northern League withdrew their support and went to opposition. Particularly unstable had been the relationship within the populist, separatist Lega Nord movement and the
Neo-fascist , pro-
Central Government Alleanza Nazionale . As such, the first Berlusconi government lasted only nine months.
After a five-year
Left-wing government, Berlusconi managed to keep at bay some of the most uncompromising Lega Nord proposals and won the
2001 General Election , this time with a view to create a stable government. It sought to undermine the proportionality rules of the Italian
Additional Member System of elections by running many of its constituency candidates under a decoy list called '', a title which explicitly stated its opposition to the counting rules; its tactic largely worked because it had more support than the leftist
United In The Olive Tree (''Uniti nell'Ulivo'') alliance.
In 2003 House of Freedoms was routed in local elections by the Olive Tree alliance, and the League threatened to pull out of the House of Freedoms. In 2005, once again, House of Freedoms was severely routed in regional elections, losing six of eight Italian regions. This led to a crisis of the government, particularly after the UDC pulled its four ministers out. A few weeks later, a new government was formed on April 23, 2005 with the same six parties (FI, AN, LN, UDC, NPSI, PRI) and a minor Cabinet reshuffle (
Berlusconi III Cabinet ).
On the 21st August 2007 possible Berlusconi successor
Michela Vittoria Brambilla set up the
Freedom Party apparently with Berlusconi's backing with the apparent goal of merging several parties from the House of Freedoms into one massive party,
In February 2006, two months ahead of the general elections of 2006, UDC secretary
Lorenzo Cesa and others protested against the inclusion of
Neo-fascists such as
Adriano Tilgher ,
Roberto Fiore ,
Alessandra Mussolini ,
Gaetano Saya and
Pino Rauti in the alliance, branding them ''impresentabili'' (unsuitable).
It appeared for some time that these neo-fascist leading figures were going to receive a few almost-guaranteed seats in the Parliament on Forza Italia's ticket.
as claimed by political opposers, while Berlusconi definitely ruled out this possibility.[http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it/politica/articoli/articolo296617.shtml
Berlusconi confirmed negotiating with Alessandra Mussolini (Benito Mussolini's granddaughter), but claimed he would request her not to include people like Tilgher and Fiore.
Mussolini had previously contended she would not accept any veto. Berlusconi had been photographed with Gaetano Saya's wife, who is also secretary of an extremist neo-fascist party that claims to have such an agreement with the House of Freedoms. [http://www.destranazionale.org/deleg1.htm
Eventually, Mussolini declared that neither she nor other neo-fascists would be candidates, but her alliance of neo-fascist movements,
Alternativa Sociale , would support the House of Freedoms.
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