Unione Democratica Nazionale

The Unione Democratica Nazionale (UDN; National Democratic Union) was an alliance of liberal parties in Italy that was formed in view of the election of the Constituent Assembly in 1946 . It consisted of the following parties:

• Partito Liberale Italiano (PLI; Liberal Party of Italy), led by Manlio Brosio
• Partito Democratico del Lavoro (PDL; Democratic Labor Party) led by Ivanoe Bonomi
• Unione Nazionale per la Ricostruzione (National Union for Reconstruction) by Francesco Saverio Nitti (who was Prime Minister of Italy from June 23, 1919 to May 15, 1920).

Later smaller groups also joined:

• Alleanza Democratica della Libertà (Democratic Alliance of Freedom) by Arturo Labriola
• Movimento Nazionale Unitario ed Antiseparatista (National Unified and Antiseparatist Movement)

The UDN received 6.8% of the vote and 41 of the 556 seats in the Constituent Assembly, making it the fourth largest force after the Christian Democrats , Socialists and Communists . It performed best in southern Italy: twelve MPs represented constituencies in Campania , seven in Sicily , three each in Apulia and Calabria . In addition to Bonomi, Nitti and Labriola, their MPs also included Benedetto Croce , Luigi Einaudi and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando . The parties of the UDN initially supported the post-war coalition of Christian Democrats, Communists and Socialists, but without filling ministerial posts themselves. After the communists and socialists left the government in May 1947, however, they were directly represented in De Gasperi IV's cabinet , including Einaudi as finance minister and deputy prime minister. With Enrico De Nicola (PLI) a representative of the UDN was also the first President of the Republic of Italy.

In the run-up to the first regular parliamentary election in 1948 , the UDN was replaced by the Blocco Nazionale from PLI and right-wing populist Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque . The PDL had meanwhile disbanded, its members mostly went over to the social democratic PSLI or PSDI .