rnph.com
The Rose in the Fist (Rosa nel Pugno, RnP) is an Italian political federation
of parties founded in 2005. Its members are the Italian Democratic Socialists
and the Italian Radicals, whereas the left-wing of the Socialist Party New PSI
has shown some interest in joining this federation. It is part of the
centre-left coalition of parties L'Unione and it is one of the main Italian
supporters of gay rights, abortion and euthanasia. Some leading figures in the
coalition are Enrico Boselli (Socialist) and Emma Bonino (Radical).
Foundation
The federation has been constituted in September 2005, during a convention held
in Fiuggi, based on the political principles of José Luis Zapatero (not about
foreign policy, where Radicals have a pro-U.S. stance), Tony Blair and Loris
Fortuna. In November 2005, its official definition has been finally announced,
and the symbol presented: it clearly recalls the current one of Socialist
International, and the historical logo of the Italian Radicals during the 1970s
and the 1980s, but also the current one of the Italian Democratic Socialists
(that is, in fact, a rose).
The Radical component of the alliance creates some friction with the more Roman
Catholic components of L'Unione, such as Daisy-Democracy is Freedom and Popular-UDEUR.
The Socialist component is made up mostly of veterans of the Italian Socialist
Party, who have some problems with former anti-corruption prosecutor Antonio Di
Pietro (who caused the demise of their former party with his investigations
during Mani Pulite) and his movement Italy of Values.
Electoral results
The federation presented its own candidates for the next general election of
2006, obtaining 2.6% of votes, and winning 18 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
and no seats in the Senate.
This was not an encouraging result, indeed a bad one, considering that the
Radicals alone scored 2.3% both at the 2001 general election and at the 2004
European Parliament election, while the Socialists have an electoral force of
2-3% in regional and local elections.
In particular, it seems that the Radicals lost votes to Forza Italia in their
northern strongholds (as Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia),
while the Socialists did the same in favour of the Olive Tree coalition in their
southern strongholds (as Abruzzo, Campania, Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria).
The table below shows how the two parties were not able to secure the favor of
their usual voters, so that the Rose in the Fist scored less than Radicals alone
in the North and the Socialists alone in the South.
