Italians vote for constituent assembly

[Agostinho Neto]

ROMA - Thousands of Italians went to polling stations across the country today to elect a Constituent Assembly. The 55,825 voters in Italy will choose 100 assembly members out of 500 candidates, local media said.

Among the 100 assembly seats, 80 will be given to regional representatives, 15 to nationwide representatives and the rest 5 to representatives of Italian overseas. The election, kicked off at 7 a.m. local time, is the first in 4 years in Italy. After the vote, the new body will start work on January 1 and will have 30 days -- a mandate that can be extended by another 30 days -- to write a new constitution.

The creation of the assembly was initiated by General Borghese, who said the assembly was a key component to make Italy a more just country.

List of Parties and Coalitions:

Movimento Nazionale Italiano (Italian National Movement)

- Partito Fascista Repubblicano (Republican Fascist Party)

- Movimento Sociale Italiano-Destra Nazionale (Italian Social Movement-National Right)

Unione per la Repubblica (Union for the Republic)

- Partito Liberale Italiano (Italian Liberal Party)

- Partito Democratico Repubblicano (Republican Democratic Party)

Movimento Nazionale Italiano

The MNI is a rightist coalition formed by the PFR and the MSI-DN. The new coalition said that its aim is to create a political environment that attempts to promote better state institutions. They also said that the objective of the new coalition is to build the armed forces as part of a framework to impose the law.

PFR Leader, Roberto Ciano, also MNI leader

Partito Fascista Repubblicano

The policies of the Republican Fascist Party evolved over time. Initially, under the name of Partito Fascista Nazionale (National Fascist Party) the party harboured ultra nationalist and republican values, but always maintained a nationalist agenda combined with degrees of statism and fervent anti-anarchism. The party supported the reunification of the country, and later moved towards social and international issues such religion and colonialism.

The party officially adopted clerical policies when trying to earn the support of the Vatican. Later, upon the election of Benedict XVII°, the party eventually abandoned clerical policies for the tactical purpose of weakening the influence of the Catholic Church in Italy. Under the leadership of Junio Borghese, the party endorsed irredentism and colonialism, leading to the reunification of the Peninsula, the establishment of Italian Somalia, and boosting the economy to first world standards.

In power, the party formed an economic policy that was a "third way" between capitalism and socialism, this was called Corporatism. In theory, trade unions and businesses would unite to form a cooperative organization to establish wages, hours of labour, and other issues.

The party promoted economical treaties with several countries in Europe, Africa and North America, reinvesting foreign investments in infrastructures and social services. It's part of the MNI Coalition.

MSI-DN Leader, Augusto De Marsanich

Movimento Sociale Italiano-Destra Nazionale

The Italian Social Movement–National Right (Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale, MSI–DN), is a national-conservative political party in Italy formed in 1946 by supporters of former dictator Benito Mussolini

An array of themes that continuously inspired the MSI for forty years: Advocacy of the third way in-between liberal capitalism and socialism; Intransigent anti-communism; Appeals for a strong executive branch; Support for aggressive government intervention in the social sphere; Opposition to the guiding role of superpowers in international politics.

However, since General Junio Borghese seized power in June 2009, the party took a democratic stance and notably supported a return to civilian rule in the first weeks of the fascist regime and partecipated in elections deemed fake by the International Community. Its former leader, Giorgio Almirante, died under unclear circumstances in mid June 2009. The party formed a national-conservative coalition with the PFR.

Unione Per la Repubblica

The "Unione per la Repubblica" (Union for the Republic) is a centre/centre-right political party coalition led by Luigi Einaudi. The coalition is formed by the PLI and the PDR and led by PLI leader Luigi Einaudi

PLI Leader (Also leader of UPR Coalition), Luigi Einaudi

Partito Liberale Italiano (UPR Coalition)

The original Liberal Party, also known as "Historical Right", was formed as a parliamentary group by Cammillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution. The party is moderately conservative and supports centralized government, regressive taxation, and free trade. The party dominated Italian politics following Italian unification in 1861 but faded after World War I

The party was re-founded in 1943 by Benedetto Croce, a prominent intellectual and MP whose international recognition allowed him to remain a free man during the Fascist regime (1922-1945), despite being an anti-fascist himself. Various groups had claimed the label "Liberal" before, but had never organized themselves as a party.

The party was re-founded by Luigi Einaudi. This new party gathers some of the Italian right-wing liberals, but has soon distanced from the PFR and MSI, and formed a coalition with the PDR.

PDR Leader, Oddo Biasini

Partito Democratico Repubblicano (UPR Coalition)

PDR is a pro-free market centrist party, with a strong support among Catholics, especially progressive ones. The party put together social conservatives with social progressives, economic liberals and social democrats.

PDR was formed by former leftist Christian Democrats, centrists (former Liberals and former Republicans), as well as more leftist politicians, especially former Socialists and Greens. The party is in the UPR coalition and represents the reformist-democrat wing.

[Agostinho Neto]

Heir to Mussolini’s fascists, but now considered part of Italy’s reformist "constitutional arc", General Junio Borghese has succeeded in turning his nation into an avowedly post-fascist republic, which has won a legitimate and increasingly successful place among today’s political scene. Much of this new-found legitimacy comes from a new liberal orientation but also a refusal to ally itself with the more extreme interventionist democracies of the east.

Six months ago, the Italian Republic’s constitution (approved in 1948) was suspended after the state coup. The forces that enacted the coup were the ultra nationalist political groupings and the groups which had been active in the post-Gebiv era, and together these made up what was known as the "Borghese Revolution". In other words, the republic was born fascist and anti-interventionist, and considered Gebiv as the only legal and honourable predecessor of the Italian Republic as is structured today.

Two significant factors have combined to make the development of the Italian Nation difficult in Europe: the collapse of Nordland, which left Italy sorrounded by anti-fascist, pseudo-democratic countries; and the decisions taken by General Junio Borghese to adopt isolationist policies.

As a result, with the exception of Transvaal, Deutschland, Bavaria (now Austria), Tahoe, the Rheinmark and Carthage, Italy was denied the possibility of developing extended diplomatic relations that have characterised other European countries. It thus chose to transform itself into a "Bullwark against democratic-fundamentalism" within the post-nord countries - unlike the situation in France, Spain and Croatia where the governments heavily criticized Italy and threatened military actions more than one time.

For some time in Italy, the real shield was effectively the well developed technology market. Technology importers who bought Italian technology also guaranteed Italy's independence, and defended their economical interests against anti-fascist forces. This explains why Italy was for a long time tied with the major economical super powers, guaranteeing the sovereignty of a country which remained locked in diplomatic isolation for 6 months.

However, with the decline and subsequent collapse of anti-Borghese sentiments, Junio Borghese found himself with a new freedom of choice other than political repression and diplomatic isolation. It was at that point that a reformist section of the Fascist Party identified with in the neo-liberal and indirectly democratic ideals.