Former Democratic Party (PD) MP
Alfredo D'Attorre said Friday a new leftist political party is
in the works.
"Tomorrow new leftist caucuses will be formed, uniting
lawmakers that have left the PD in the past few weeks," he said.
"We're thinking of calling ourselves Italian Left. A final
decision as to the name will be made tonight and formalized
tomorrow".
D'Attorre said the new formation will include just over 30
Lower House MPs and 10 Senators, and will officially turn itself
into a party in 2016.
"This is the birth of a new, non-radical, pluralistic...
left, which will finally offer a home to the tens of thousands
of voters who have found themselves homeless," he said.
The ruling center-left PD of Premier Matteo Renzi has long
been fighting internal leftwing dissenters over its labor and
welfare policies as well as its Italicum electoral reform bill.
Ex-premier and leading leftist PD dissenter Pier Luigi
Bersani told La Repubblica paper in an interview Friday that he
disagreed with the choice of leaving the party, because this
will drive disaffected voters into the arms of the opposition
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S).
The M5S is currently Italy's second-largest party after the
ruling PD.
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