Voters without a Party: the ‘Long Decade’ of the Italian Centre-Right and its Uncertain Future

The birth, as a consequence of Tangentopoli’s political earthquake, of the electoral coalition led by Berlusconi, and its rise to government in 1994, 2001 and 2008, were interpreted as a sign of a new era of success for the Italian Right. Nevertheless, three years after the 2013 general elections, when the center-right PDL lost by a tiny margin, this political area has fallen headlong into a pit. As is shown by opinion polls, its potential electorate is still wide, but the ex-allied parties are fragmented and weakened by a series of splits, and divided between a more moderate component and an openly populist one. The old ruling class has lost its credibility, but the new younger leaders, like Salvini and Meloni, are not able to re-unify the former coalition. This article tries to identify the main factors which will condition the future of this political family.