The Left – The Rainbow

Infobox_Italian_political_party
name_english = The Left – The Rainbow

leader = Fausto Bertinotti
leader1_title =
leader1_name =
leader2_title =
leader2_name =
leader3_title =
leader3_name =
leader4_title =
leader4_name =
foundation = 8 December 2007
dissolution =
headquarters = "none"
newspaper = none
membership_year=
membership = "unknown"
ideology = Communism, Eurocommunism, Green politics, Anti-globalization, Democratic socialism, Pacifism
coalition =
international = "not yet decided"
european = "not yet decided"
europarl = "not yet decided"
website = http://www.sinistrarcobaleno.it/
colorcode = red

The Left – The Rainbow ("La Sinistra – L'Arcobaleno", SA), frequently referred as Rainbow Left ("Sinistra Arcobaleno", SA), is a left-wing federation of parties in Italy.

The federation, defined by its members as the "sinistra radicale" [ [http://www.corriere.it/politica/08_aprile_07/magazine_bertinotti_beato_oppositore_bf5347da-04ba-11dd-b273-00144f486ba6.shtml Bertinotti, beato oppositore Corriere della Sera ] ] (which can be translated in English as both "radical left" and "far left"), is composed of four parties:
*the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC, communist, leader: Franco Giordano);
*the Party of Italian Communists (PdCI, communist, leader: Oliviero Diliberto);
*the Federation of the Greens (FV, green, leader: Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Minister of the Environment);
*the Democratic Left (SD, socialist, leader: Fabio Mussi, Minister of University and Research).

History

The federation was officially launched on 8–9 December 2007 [ [http://www.corriere.it/politica/07_dicembre_05/cosa_rossa_sinistra_arcobaleno_783d313e-a32c-11dc-8831-0003ba99c53b.shtml La Cosa Rossa? Sinistra e Arcobaleno. Corriere della Sera ] ] [ [http://www.corriere.it/politica/07_dicembre_09/ingrao_sinistra_assemblea_arcobaleno_07e91988-a643-11dc-b0eb-0003ba99c53b.shtml Sinistra Arcobaleno, «puntiamo al 15%». Corriere della Sera ] ] with the goal of uniting Italian communist, socialist and ecologist parties in a united bloc, somewhat similar to what the center-left forces have done with the Democratic Party.

The four parties tended to disagree on a number of issues, including the support for the Prodi II Cabinet [ [http://www.corriere.it/politica/07_novembre_29/cosa_rossa_welfare_pdci_2059b342-9e8c-11dc-9968-0003ba99c53b.shtml Welfare, spaccatura nella "Cosa Rossa". Corriere della Sera ] ] [ [http://www.corriere.it/politica/07_dicembre_04/bertinotti_governo_prodi_be88dcb6-a23b-11dc-9440-0003ba99c53b.shtml Bertinotti: «Il governo Prodi ha fallito». Corriere della Sera ] ] , the symbol and the name of the federation with the Greens wanting the word "ecologist" and the Italian Communists the hammer and sickle to be included [ [http://www.canisciolti.info/news_dettaglio.php?id=10818 Cosa rossa: I Verdi e i Comunisti italiani litigano sul simbolo ] ] , but in the end they formed a joint list for the 2008 general election.

In the election The Left – The Rainbow gained a disastrous 3.1% of the vote (down from 10.2%, combined result of the three parties in 2006 general election) and failed to gain any seats in the Italian Parliament. Since then the future of the federation is unclear as each party, or rather each faction of each of the parties, holds a different view about the defeat and the future of the left in Italy.

Popular support

The electoral results of The Left – The Rainbow in the 10 most populated Regions of Italy are shown in the table below. As The Left was founded in 2007, the electoral results from 1994 to 2006 refer to the combined result of three of the four founding parties (Democratic Left never took part in an election): the Communist Refoundation Party (1994-2006), the Party of Italian Communists (1999-2006) and the Federation of the Greens (1994-2006).

References

External links

* [http://www.sinistrarcobaleno.it/ Official website]