title: Japan Airlines

text: Japan Airlines offers meals on intercontinental routes, depending on the cabin class, destination and flight length. Western and Japanese menu selections are typically offered, including seasonal menu selections varied by destination. The airline has worked with high-profile chefs, including Fumiko Kono, Shinichi Sato, Koji Shimomura, Naoki Uchiyama, Chikara Yamada, Seiji Yamammoto and Hiroki Yoshitake in the creation of its menus and in 2016, launched a children's menu created by Kono, Yamada, Yamammoto, and Yosuke Suga.


title: Japan Airlines

text: Sakura Lounge, named after the Japanese word for cherry blossom, is Japan Airlines' signature lounge. In addition, the airline also operates the following international, including First Class Lounge, Sakura Lounge annex and JAL Lounge; and domestic lounges, including Diamond Premier Lounge and JAL Lounge. Access to the lounges depend on the class of travel or the membership status in the JAL Mileage Bank or JAL Global Club.


title: Japan Airlines

text: Circa the 1990s, JAL previously operated buses from Frankfurt Airport to Düsseldorf to serve customers in that German city, as well as buses from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City to Fort Lee, New Jersey.


title: Japan Airlines

text: JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) is the travel rewards programme of JAL Group, including Japan Airlines, JALways, JAL Express, Japan Transocean Air, Japan Air Commuter, Hokkaido Air System and Ryukyu Air Commuter. The programme's airline partners also include JAL's Oneworld partners, as well as Air France, China Eastern Airlines and Emirates. For the airline's most frequent flyers, JMB offers Fly on Programme, a frequent flyer service status programme; and JAL Global Club (JGC), an exclusive club designed for experienced travelers.


title: Japan Airlines

text: The Fly on Programme is the frequent flyer service status programme and is divided into four membership levels, Crystal, Sapphire, JGC Premier and Diamond, based on the member's travel in the last calendar year.


title: Japan Airlines

text: The JAL Global Club is an exclusive club dedicated to catering to JAL Group's most experienced and valuable travelers.


title: Japan Airlines

text: Japan Airlines has been the focus of several television programs in Japan over the years, most being dramas revolving around cabin attendants. "Attention Please" was a drama in 1970 that followed the story of a young girl who joins JAL to be a cabin attendant while overcoming many difficulties. This show was remade in 2006 again as "Attention Please" starring Aya Ueto who joins a class of cabin attendant nominees and later graduates. Most of the action of the story of the 2006 series takes place at JAL's Haneda flight operations headquarters. The series has had two specials since the original, marking the main character's transition into JAL's international operations.


title: Japan Airlines

text: During the 1980s, JAL was also the focus of another drama entitled "Stewardess Monogatari" which featured another young girl during training to be a JAL cabin attendant. During the 1990s, JAL featured several commercials with celebrities, including Janet Jackson who danced and sang to a backdrop of JAL 747s on rotation at LAX.


title: Janata Party

text: The Janata Party ( JP, lit. "People's Party") was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.


title: Janata Party

text: Raj Narain, a socialist leader, had filed a legal writ alleging electoral malpractice against Indira Gandhi in 1971. On 12 June 1975, Allahabad High Court found her guilty of using corrupt electoral practices in her 1971 election victory over Narain in the Rae Bareli constituency. She was barred from contesting any election for the next six years. Economic problems, corruption and the conviction of Gandhi led to widespread protests against the Congress (R) government, which responded by imposing a State of Emergency. The rationale was that of preserving national security. However, the government introduced press censorship, postponed elections and banned strikes and rallies. Opposition leaders such as Jivatram Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, Chandra Shekhar, Biju Patnaik, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Raj Narain, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Ramnandan Mishra and Morarji Desai were imprisoned, along with thousands of other political activists. When the State of Emergency was lifted and new elections called in 1977, opposition political parties such as the Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal as well as defectors from the Indian National Congress joined to form the Janata party, which won a sweeping majority in the Indian Parliament. Narain defeated Gandhi at Rae Bareli in those elections.


title: Janata Party

text: The new Janata-led government reversed many Emergency-era decrees and opened official investigations into Emergency-era abuses. Although several major foreign policy and economic reforms were attempted, continuous in-fighting and ideological differences made the Janata government unable to effectively address national problems. By mid-1979, Prime Minister Morarji Desai was forced to resign and his successor Chaudhary Charan Singh failed to sustain a parliamentary majority as alliance partners withdrew support. Popular disenchantment with the political in-fighting and ineffective government led to the resurgence of Gandhi and her new Congress (I) party, which won the general election called in 1980. Although the original Janata Party fragmented and dissolved, modern political parties continue to invoke its legacy.


title: Janata Party

text: Having led the Indian independence movement, the Indian National Congress became the most popular political party in independent India and won every election following national independence in 1947. However, the Indian National Congress bifurcated in 1969 over the issue of the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Supporters of Indira Gandhi claimed to be the real Congress party, adopting the name Indian National Congress (R) – where "R" stood for "Requisition." Congress politicians who opposed Indira identified themselves as the Indian National Congress (O) – where "O" stood for "Organisation" or "Old." For the 1971 election, the Congress (O), Samyukta Socialist Party and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had formed a coalition called the "Grand Alliance" to oppose Indira Gandhi and the Congress (R), but failed to have an impact; Indira's Congress (R) won a large majority in the 1971 elections and her popularity increased significantly after India's victory in the war of 1971 against Pakistan.


title: Janata Party

text: However Indira's subsequent inability to address serious issues such as unemployment, poverty, inflation and shortages eroded her popularity. The frequent invoking of "President's rule" to dismiss state governments led by opposition political parties was seen as authoritarian and opportunist. Political leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Kripalani and Congress (O) chief Morarji Desai condemned Indira's government as dictatorial and corrupt. Narayan and Desai founded the Janata Morcha ("People's Front"), the predecessor of what would become the Janata party. The Janata Morcha won the elections for the Vidhan Sabha (State Legislature) of the state of Gujarat on 11 June 1975.


title: Janata Party

text: Raj Narain, a leader of the Socialist Party (India), who had unsuccessfully contested election against Indira from the constituency of Rae Bareilly in 1971, lodged a case at the Allahabad High Court, alleging electoral malpractices and the use of government resources for her election campaign. On 12 June 1975 in "State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain", the Allahabad High Court found Indira guilty and barred her from holding public office for six years. Opposition politicians immediately demanded her resignation and stepped up mass protests against the government. On 25 June, Narayan and Desai held a massive rally in Delhi, calling for a "Satyagraha" – a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience to force the government to resign.


title: Janata Party

text: On 25 June 1975, the president of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, accepted prime minister Indira Gandhi's recommendation to declare a state of national emergency. Indira argued that the political and civil disorder constituted a threat to national security. A state of emergency enabled the central government to issue executive decrees without requiring the consent of Parliament. Elections were postponed and public gatherings, rallies and strikes were banned. Curfews were imposed and police forces were empowered to make warrantless searches, seizures and arrests. Indira's government imposed "President's rule" in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, dismissing the governments controlled by opposition political parties. The central government also imposed censorship on radio, television and newspapers. Across the country, police forces arrested thousands of opposition political activists, as well as leaders such as Raj Narain, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, Kamaraj, Morarji Desai, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Vijaya Raje Scindia, Charan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and others. Opposition political organizations such as the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were banned and their leaders arrested. Only the Communist Party of India supported the state of emergency. Due to the advancing age and failing health, Narayan was released from prison, but remained prohibited from political activity.


title: Janata Party

text: During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi implemented a 20-point program of economic reforms that resulted in greater economic growth, aided by the absence of strikes and trade union conflicts. Encouraged by these positive signs and distorted and biased information from her party supporters, Indira called elections for May 1977. However, the emergency era had been widely unpopular. The most controversial issue was the 42nd amendment to the Constitution of India, which deprived citizens of direct access to the Supreme Court, except when violation of the fundamental rights resulted from Union law. The Parliament was given unrestrained power to amend any parts of the Constitution. The Supreme Court was given exclusive jurisdiction as regards determination of the constitutional validity of laws passed by the Union government. It restricted the power of the courts to issue stay orders or injunctions. Almost all parts of the Constitution saw changes through this amendment. The clampdown on civil liberties and allegations of widespread abuse of human rights by police had angered the public. Indira Gandhi was believed, by the public at large to be under the influence of a clique of politicians led by her youngest son, Sanjay Gandhi, who had become notorious for using his influence in the government and the Congress party for alleged corrupt activities. Sanjay Gandhi had masterminded the Union government's unpopular campaign of family planning, which had allegedly involved forcible sterilization of young men by government officials. Sanjay Gandhi had also instigated the demolition of slums in the Jama Masjid area of New Delhi, the national capital, which left thousands of people, mostly Muslims, homeless. Indian laborers, urban workers, teachers and government employees were also disenchanted by wage freezes and the curtailing of trade union activities and rights.


title: Janata Party

text: Calling elections on 18 January 1977 the government released political prisoners and weakened restrictions and censorship on the press, although the state of emergency was not officially ended. When opposition leaders sought the support of Jayaprakash Narayan for the forthcoming election, Narayan insisted that all opposition parties form a united front. The Janata party was officially launched on 23 January 1977 when the Janata Morcha, Charan Singh's Bharatiya Lok Dal, Swatantra Party, the Socialist Party of India of Raj Narain and George Fernandes, and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) joined, dissolving their separate identities (the merger of all party organizations was to be completed after the election). Although the political ideologies of Janata constituents were diverse and conflicting, the party was able to unite under the over-reaching appeal of Jayaprakash Narayan, who had been seen as the ideological leader of the anti-Emergency movement and now the Janata party. Chandra Shekhar became first president of Janata Party. Ramakrishna Hegde became the party general secretary, and Bharatiya Jana Sangh politician Lal Krishna Advani became the party spokesperson.


title: Janata Party

text: The Janata manifesto was released on 10 February, which declared that the coming election presented voters with:


title: Janata Party

text: As it became clear that Indira's Emergency rule had been widely unpopular, defections from the Congress (R) government increased. The most significant was that of Jagjivan Ram, who commanded great support amongst India's Dalit communities. A former Minister of Defence, Ram left the Congress (R) and along with his supporters formed the Congress for Democracy on 2 February 1977. Other co-founders included the former Chief Minister of Orissa Nandini Satpathy, former Union Minister of State for Finance K. R. Ganesh, former MP D. N. Tiwari and Bihar politician Raj Mangal Pandey.


title: Janata Party

text: Although committing to contest the election with the Janata party, Ram resisted merging his party organization with Janata. It was ultimately decided that the Congress for Democracy would contest the election with the same manifesto as the Janata party and would join the Janata party in Parliament, but would otherwise retain a separate identity (the CFD would merge with the Janata party after the elections on 5 May). On 30 January 1977 the Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced that it would seek to avoid a splintering in the opposition vote by not running candidates against the Janata party.


title: Janata Party

text: During the election campaign, the leaders of the Congress (R) and the Janata party traveled across the country to rally supporters. Indira and her Congress (R) promoted the record of achieving economic development and orderly government. Although she offered apologies for abuses committed during the Emergency, Indira and the Congress (R) defended the rationale 455


title: Janata Party

text: of imposing the state of emergency as being essential for national security. On the other hand, Janata leaders assailed Indira for ruling as a dictator and endangering human rights and democracy in India. Janata's campaign evoked memories of India's freedom struggle against British rule, during which Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani and Morarji Desai had first emerged as political leaders. Although Narayan and Kripalani did not seek office themselves, they became the leading campaigners for the Janata party, drawing great masses of people in rallies across the country.


title: Janata Party

text: Actions taken during Emergency significantly diminished support for the Congress (R) amongst its most loyal constituencies. The bulldozing of slums near the Jama Masjid was widely unpopular amongst India's Muslims, and the defection of Jagjivan Ram significantly diminished support for the Congress (R) amongst India's Dalits. BLD leader Charan Singh's peasant roots helped him raise considerable support in the rural parts of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. The Shiromani Akali Dal, the party of the Sikhs of Punjab and regional political parties such as the Tamil Nadu-based Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam became important allies. The leaders of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh rallied India's middle-class merchants, traders and conservative Hindus. The Hindu nationalist RSS and trade unions aligned with Janata helped rally considerable voting blocs.


title: Janata Party

text: The 1977 election drew a turnout of 60% from an electorate of more than 320 million. On 23 March, it was announced that the Janata party had won a sweeping victory, securing 43.2% of the popular vote and 271 seats. With the support of the Akali Dal and the Congress for Democracy, it had amassed a two-thirds, or absolute majority of 345 seats. Although the Congress for Democracy won 28 seats, Ram's standing as a national Dalit leader and moving a significant share of the Dalit vote to the Janata party and its allies won him considerable influence.


title: Janata Party

text: In contrast to the rest of the country, the Janata party won only six seats from India's southern states – none from the state of Kerala – where the Emergency had not caused political unrest. The Congress (R) won a total of 153 seats, mainly from India's south. However, Janata candidates resoundingly defeated Congress (R) candidates in the northern "Hindi belt", especially in Uttar Pradesh. One of the most shocking outcomes of the election was the defeat of Indira Gandhi in her bid to seek re-election from her constituency of Rae Bareilly, which she lost to her 1971 opponent Raj Narain by a margin of 55,200 votes. The Congress (R) did not win any seats in Uttar Pradesh and was wiped out in 10 states and territories by Janata candidates.


title: Janata Party

text: Summary of the 1977 March Lok Sabha election results of India, using alliances under Morarji Government from 1977 to 1979


title: Janata Party

text: On the morning of 24 March, Jayaprakash Narayan and Jivatram Kripalani led the newly elected Janata MPs to Raj Ghat, where the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were laid, and administered a pledge to continue Gandhi's work and preserve honesty in serving the nation. Immediately afterwards, the Janata party faced a serious challenge in choosing a leader to become India's new prime minister, where the rival bids of party leaders could divide the party and weaken its majority before it took power. Janata party chairman Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram enjoyed the support of a significant number of Janata MPs and the activists brought from their own political parties into the Janata organization. To avoid a potentially divisive contest, Janata leaders asked Jayaprakash Narayan and Jivatram Kripalani to select the party's leader, pledging to abide by their choice. After a period of deliberation, Narayan and Kripalani selected Morarji Desai to become the chairman of the Janata Parliamentary Party on 24 May. Although some leaders such as George Fernandes and Jagjivan Ram hesitated to support Desai and criticized the undemocratic method of selection, Desai's position was soon confirmed and consolidated.


title: Janata Party

text: Taking office as prime minister, Desai also took charge of the Ministry of Finance. He sought to carefully distribute important posts to satisfy Janata's different constituents and the most powerful party leaders who were rivals for his own position of leadership. Both Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram were accorded the title of deputy prime minister. Charan Singh became the Minister of Home Affairs, the second-most important position in the Council of Ministers, while Jagjivan Ram took charge of the Ministry of Defence. BJS leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were respectively given charge of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Raj Narain was appointed Minister of Health, Madhu Dandavate was to head the Ministry of Railways and trade unionist George Fernandes was made the Minister of Communications. Jurist Shanti Bhushan was appointed Minister of Law and Justice. Congress (O) veteran and Janata candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy won the presidential election to become the 6th President of India on 25 July 1977.


title: Janata Party

text: The results of its election defeat considerably weakened and diminished the Congress (R). Significant numbers of Congress (R) MPs and activists condemned Indira's leadership and left the party. As a result, MPs still loyal to Indira Gandhi renamed their party to Congress (I) – "I" standing for Indira. Although no longer an MP, Indira Gandhi continued as the president of Congress (I), which remained the largest opposition party.


title: Janata Party

text: The first actions taken by the Desai government were to formally end the state of emergency and media censorship and repeal the controversial executive decrees issued during the Emergency. The Constitution was amended to make it more difficult for any future government to declare a state of emergency; fundamental freedoms and the independence of India's judiciary was reaffirmed.


title: Janata Party

text: The new government also proceeded to withdraw all charges against the 25 accused in the Baroda dynamite case, which included the new Minister of Industry, George Fernandes. The Minister of Railways reinstated the railway employees disciplined after the May 1974 strike. The Desai government proceeded to establish inquiry commissions and tribunals to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses by members of Indira Gandhi's government, political party and the police forces. Specific inquiries were instituted on Sanjay Gandhi's management of the state-owned Maruti Udyog Ltd., the activities of the former Minister of Defence Bansi Lal and the 1971 Nagarwala scandal. Both Indira and her son Sanjay were charged with allegations of corruption and briefly arrested.


title: Janata Party

text: Immediately upon taking office, the Janata government pressured the ten state governments where the Congress was in power to dissolve the state assemblies and hold fresh elections in June. Tamil Nadu witnessed the massive victory of the AIADMK, led by M. G. Ramachandran. Home Minister Charan Singh argued that the ruling party had been resoundingly rejected by voters and would need to win a new mandate from the people of the states. The Congress (R) was defeated in all the states, and the Janata party took power in seven – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. In Punjab, the Janata party formed a coalition government with the Akali Dal. In Bihar, Karpuri Thakur won the closely contested Janata legislature party leadership from the then Bihar Janata Party chief Satyendra Narayan Sinha to become the Bihar Chief Minister. The number of Janata members of the legislative assemblies (MLAs) of all the states increased from 386 to 1,246 seats. The government also called fresh elections in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the Janata party won 13 seats to the Congress' 11, and the veteran Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdullah returned to power after having been dismissed in 1953.


title: Janata Party

text: Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the Minister of External Affairs Atal Bihari Vajpayee began significant changes in India's foreign policy, moving away from the course adopted by Indira's government. Both Pakistan and China had celebrated the ouster of Indira Gandhi, who had preserved a hardline stance against India's rival neighbors. In 1979, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the highest-ranking Indian official to visit Beijing, meeting China's leaders. The Desai government re-established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, which had been severed due to the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Both nations established regular dialogue to resolve long-standing territorial disputes, expand trade and enhance border security. The Desai government ended India's support for the guerrillas loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh, who had been assassinated in 1975 by military officers and replaced by a military regime that sought to distance itself from India.


title: Janata Party

text: India also sought to improve relations with the United States, which had been strained due to the latter's support for Pakistan during the 1971 war and India's subsequent proximity with the Soviet Union. The Janata government announced its desire to achieve "genuine" non-alignment in the Cold War, which had been the long-standing national policy. In 1978, Jimmy Carter became the third U.S. president to make an official visit to India. Both nations sought to improve trade and expand cooperation in science and technology. Vajpayee represented India at the U.N. conference on nuclear disarmament, defending India's nuclear programme and its refusal to sign non-proliferation treaties.


title: Janata Party

text: The Janata government had lesser success in achieving economic reforms. It launched the Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries. Seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, the government required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM from India.


title: Janata Party

text: Despite a strong start, the Janata government began to wither as significant ideological and political divisions emerged. The party consisted of veteran socialists, trade unionists and pro-business leaders, making major economic reforms difficult to achieve without triggering a public divide. Socialists and secular Janata politicians shared an aversion to the Hindu nationalist agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whose members included Vajpayee, Advani and other leaders from the former Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Violence between Hindus and Muslims led to further confrontations within the Janata party, with most Janata leaders demanding that Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani choose between staying in government and being members of the RSS. Both Vajpayee and Advani as well as other members of the former BJS opted to remain members of the RSS and consequently resigned from their posts and from the party.


title: Janata Party

text: The decline in the popularity of the Janata government was aided by the stalled prosecution of Emergency-era abuses. The government had failed to prove most of the allegations and obtained few convictions. Cases against Indira Gandhi had also stalled for lack of evidence, and her continued prosecution began to evoke sympathy for her from the Indian public and anger of her supporters, who saw it as a "witch hunt."


title: Janata Party

text: Through 1979, support for Morarji Desai had declined considerably due to worsening economic conditions as well as the emergence of allegations of nepotism and corruption involving members of his family. Desai's confrontational attitude eroded his support. His main rival Charan Singh had developed an acrimonious relationship with Desai. Protesting Desai's leadership, Singh resigned and withdrew the support of his BLD. Desai also lost the support of the secular and socialist politicians in the party, who saw him as favoring the Hindu nationalist BJS. On 19 July 1979 Desai resigned from the government and eventually retired to his home in Mumbai (then Bombay). The failing health of Jayaprakash Narayan made it hard for him to remain politically active and act as a unifying influence, and his death in 1979 deprived the party of its most popular leader. Dissidents projected Charan Singh as the new prime minister in place of Desai.


title: Janata Party

text: President Reddy appointed Charan Singh as the Prime Minister of a minority government on the strength of 64 MPs, calling upon him to form a new government and prove his majority. The departure of Desai and the BJS had considerably diminished Janata's majority, and numerous Janata MPs refused to support Charan Singh. MPs loyal to Jagjivan Ram withdrew themselves from the Janata party. Former allies such as the DMK, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had distanced themselves from the Janata party. Desperately seeking enough support for a majority, Charan Singh even sought to negotiate with Congress (I), which refused. After only three weeks in office, Charan Singh resigned. With no other political party in position to establish a majority government, President Reddy dissolved the Parliament and called fresh elections for January 1980.


title: Janata Party

text: In 1980 general elections, Janata Party declared Jagjivan Ram as its Prime Ministerial candidate, but the party won only 31 seats out of 542.


title: Janata Party

text: In the run-up to the 1980 elections, the remaining Janata party leaders tried unsuccessfully to rebuild the party and make fresh alliances. Desai campaigned for the party but did not himself stand for election, preferring retirement from politics. The Congress (I) capitalized on the aversion of the Indian public to another fragile and dysfunctional government by campaigning on the slogan "Elect A Government That Works!" Indira Gandhi apologized for mistakes made during the Emergency and won the endorsement of respected national leaders such as Vinoba Bhave. At the polls, the candidates running under the Janata ticket were resoundingly defeated – the party lost 172 seats, winning only 31. Indira Gandhi and the Congress (I) returned to power with a strong majority. Sanjay Gandhi was also elected to the Parliament. President Reddy was succeeded at the end of his term in 1982 by Congress (I) leader Zail Singh.


title: Janata Party

text: Between 1980 and 1989, the Janata party maintained a small presence in the Indian Parliament under the leadership of socialist politician Chandra Sekhar. In 1988, Lok Dal (A) was merged into Janata Party and Ajit Singh was made its president. After some months, it merged into the Janata Dal, which had emerged as the chief opposition party under the leadership of Vishwanath Pratap Singh and the main constituent of the National Front coalition. Singh had become widely popular for exposing the role of the government of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the eldest son and successor of Indira, in the Bofors scandal, though on 5 February 2004, the Delhi High Court quashed the charges of bribery against Rajiv Gandhi and others.


title: Janata Party

text: But some leaders of Janata Party refused to accept its merger into Janata Dal and continued in Janata Party. These included Indubhai Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Syed Shahabuddin, H. D. Deve Gowda, Sarojini Mahishi. On 4 January 1989, Indubhai Patel was declared as acting president of Janata Party. Janata Dal filed an application to Election Commission of India to seek the transfer of Janata Party symbol to its own. But the Election Commission froze the symbol "chakra–haldhar" for 1989 general election and as a result, Janata Dal had to use "wheel" as their election symbol.


title: Janata Party

text: Under V. P. Singh, the Janata Dal and the National Front sought to replicate the Janata-style alliance of anti-Congress political parties. Although it failed to win a majority, it managed to form a fragile coalition government with V.P. Singh as the prime minister with the outside support of the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). However, Singh's government soon fell victim to intra-party rivalries and power struggles, and his successor Chandra Sekhar's Janata Dal (Socialist) government lasted barely into 1991.


title: Janata Party

text: Although its tenure in office was tumultuous and unsuccessful, the Janata party played a definitive role in Indian politics and history and its legacy remains strong in contemporary India. The Janata party led a popular movement to restore civil liberties, evoking the memories and principles of the Indian independence movement. Its success in ending 30 years of uninterrupted Congress rule helped strengthen India's multi-party democracy. The term "Janata" has been used by several major political parties such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal and others.


title: Janata Party

text: Participants in the struggle against the Indian Emergency (1975–77) and of the Janata party went on to comprise a new generation of Indian political leaders. Chandra Shekhar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deve Gowda went on to serve as Prime Ministers; Vajpayee led the first non-Congress government to complete a full five-year term from 1999 to 2004. Lal Krishna Advani served as deputy prime minister. Younger politicians such as Subramanian Swamy, Arun Jaitley, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and others were grass-roots activists in the Janata party.


title: Janata Party

text: The Janata Party continued to exist led by Subramanian Swamy, which maintained a small presence in the politics of the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Delhi and at the national stage. Janata party continued its lead as opposition in AP until the formation of TDP party, due to prominent leaders such as Jaipal Reddy, Babul Reddy and T. Gajula Narasaiah.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The Democratic Party (, PD) is a social-democratic political party in Italy. The party's secretary is Enrico Letta, who was elected by the national assembly in March 2021, after the resignation of the former leader Nicola Zingaretti, while its president is Valentina Cuppi.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The PD was established in 2007 upon the merger of various centre-left parties which had been part of The Olive Tree list in the 2006 general election, mainly the social-democratic Democrats of the Left (DS), successor of the Italian Communist Party and the Democratic Party of the Left, which was folded with several social-democratic parties (Labour Federation and Social Christians, among others) in 1998, as well as the largely Catholic-inspired Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL), a merger of the Italian People's Party (heir of the Christian Democracy party's left wing), The Democrats and Italian Renewal in 2002. While the party has also been influenced by social liberalism and Third Way progressivism, especially under Matteo Renzi's leadership, the PD's main ideological trends are social democracy and the Christian leftist tradition.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Between 2013 and 2018, the Italian government was led by three successive Democratic Prime Ministers, namely Letta (2013–2014), Renzi (2014–2016) and Paolo Gentiloni (2016–2018). The PD was the second-largest party in the 2018 general election, but the centre-left coalition came third. The party was returned to government in September 2019 with the Conte II Cabinet, as junior partner of the Five Star Movement, and joined the national unity Draghi Cabinet, comprising also the League and Forza Italia, in February 2021. As of 2021, the party heads five regional governments.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Prominent Democrats include former leaders Walter Veltroni, Dario Franceschini, Maurizio Martina, and Nicola Zingaretti. Former members include Giorgio Napolitano (President of Italy, 2006–2015), Sergio Mattarella (President of Italy, 2015–present), four Prime Ministers (Romano Prodi, Giuliano Amato, Massimo D'Alema, and Renzi), and three former leaders (Pier Luigi Bersani, Guglielmo Epifani, and Renzi), as well as David Sassoli (President of the European Parliament, 2019–2022), Francesco Rutelli, Pietro Grasso, and Carlo Calenda.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Following "Tangentopoli" scandals, the end of the so-called First Republic and the transformation of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) in the early 1990s, a process aimed at uniting left-wing and centre-left forces into a single political entity was started.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In 1995, Romano Prodi, a former minister of Industry on behalf of the left-wing faction of Christian Democracy (DC), entered politics and founded The Olive Tree ("L'Ulivo"), a centre-left coalition including the PDS, the Italian People's Party (PPI), the Federation of the Greens (FdV), Italian Renewal (RI), the Italian Socialists (SI) and Democratic Union (UD). The coalition in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) won the 1996 general election and Prodi became Prime Minister.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In February 1998, the PDS merged with minor social-democratic parties (Labour Federation and Social Christians, among others) to become the Democrats of the Left (DS), while in March 2002 the PPI, RI and The Democrats (Prodi's own party, launched in 1999) became Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL). In the summer of 2003, Prodi suggested that centre-left forces should participate in the 2004 European Parliament election with a common list. Whereas the Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR) and the far-left parties refused, four parties accepted, namely the DS, DL, the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI) and the European Republicans Movement (MRE). These launched a joint list named United in the Olive Tree which ran in the election and garnered 31.1% of the vote. The project was later abandoned in 2005 by the SDI.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The project of a Democratic Party was often mentioned by Prodi as the natural evolution of The Olive Tree and was bluntly envisioned by Michele Salvati, a former centrist deputy of the DS, in an appeal in "Il Foglio" newspaper in April 2013. The term "Partito Democratico" was used for the first time in a formal context by the DL and DS members of the Regional Council of Veneto, who chose to form a joint group named The Olive Tree – Venetian Democratic Party ("L'Ulivo – Partito Democratico Veneto") in March 2007.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The 2006 election result, anticipated by the 2005 primary election in which over four million voters endorsed Prodi as candidate for Prime Minister, gave a push to the project of a unified centre-left party. Eight parties agreed to merge into the PD:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: While the DL agreed to the merger with virtually no resistance, the DS experienced a more heated final congress. On 19 April 2007, approximately 75% of party members voted in support of the merger of the DS into the PD. The left-wing opposition, led by Fabio Mussi, obtained just 15% of the support within the party. A third motion, presented by Gavino Angius and supportive of the PD only within the Party of European Socialists (PES), obtained 10% of the vote. Both Mussi and Angius refused to join the PD and, following the congress, founded a new party called Democratic Left (SD).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 22 May 2007, the organising committee of the nascent party was formed. It consisted of 45 members, mainly politicians from the two aforementioned major parties and the leaders of the other six minor parties. Also leading external figures such as Giuliano Amato, Marcello De Cecco, Gad Lerner, Carlo Petrini and Tullia Zevi were included. On 18 June, the committee decided the rules for the open election of the 2,400 members of the party's constituent assembly; each voter could choose between a number of lists, each of them associated with a candidate for secretary.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: All candidates interested in running for the PD leadership had to be associated with one of the founding parties and present at least 2,000 valid signatures by 30 July 2007. A total of ten candidates officially registered their candidacy: Walter Veltroni, Rosy Bindi, Enrico Letta, Furio Colombo, Marco Pannella, Antonio Di Pietro, Mario Adinolfi, Pier Giorgio Gawronski, Jacopo Schettini, Lucio Cangini and Amerigo Rutigliano. Of these, Pannella and Di Pietro were rejected because of their involvement in external parties (the Radicals and Italy of Values respectively) whereas Cangini and Rutigliano did not manage to present the necessary 2,000 valid signatures for the 9pm deadline and Colombo's candidacy was instead made into hiatus in order to give him 48 additional hours to integrate the required documentation. Colombo later decided to retire his candidacy citing his impossibility to fit with all the requirements. All rejected candidates had the chance against the decision in 48 hours' time, with Pannella and Rutigliano being the only two candidates to appeal against it. Both were rejected on 3 August.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 14 October 2007, Veltroni was elected leader with about 75% of the national votes in an open primary attended by over three million voters. Veltroni was proclaimed secretary during a party's constituent assembly held in Milan on 28 October 2007.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 21 November, the new logo was unveiled. It depicts an olive branch and the acronym PD in colours reminiscent of the Italian tricolour flag (green, white and red). In the words of Ermete Realacci, green represents the ecologist and social-liberal cultures, white the Catholic solidarity and red the socialist and social-democratic traditions. The green-white-red idea was coined by Schettini during his campaign.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the premature fall of the Prodi II Cabinet in January 2008, the PD decided to form a less diverse coalition. The party invited the Radicals and the Socialist Party (PS) to join its lists, but only the Radicals accepted and formed an alliance with Italy of Values (IdV) which was set to join the PD after the election. The PD included many notable candidates and new faces in its lists and Walter Veltroni, who tried to present the PD as the party of the renewal in contrast both with Silvio Berlusconi and the previous centre-left government, ran an intense and modern campaign which led him to visit all provinces of Italy, but that was not enough.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the 2008 general election on 13–14 April 2008, the PD–IdV coalition won 37.5% of the vote and was defeated by the centre-right coalition, composed of The People of Freedom (PdL), the Lega Nord and the Movement for Autonomy (46.8%). The PD was able to absorb some votes from the parties of the far-left as also IdV did, but lost voters to the Union of the Centre (UdC), ending up with 33.2% of the vote, 217 deputies and 119 senators. After the election Veltroni, who was gratified by the result, formed a shadow cabinet. IdV, excited by its 4.4% which made it the fourth largest party in Parliament, refused to join both the Democratic groups and the shadow cabinet.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The early months after the election were a difficult time for the PD and Veltroni, whose leadership was weakened by the growing influence of internal factions because of the popularity of Berlusconi and the dramatic rise of IdV in opinion polls. IdV became a strong competitor of the PD and the relations between the two parties became tense. In the 2008 Abruzzo regional election, the PD was forced to support IdV candidate Carlo Costantini. In October, Veltroni, who distanced from Di Pietro many times, declared that "on some issues he [Di Pietro] is distant from the democratic language of the centre-left".


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After a crushing defeat in the February 2009 Sardinian regional election, Walter Veltroni resigned as party secretary. His deputy Dario Franceschini took over as interim party secretary to guide the party toward the selection of a new stable leader. Franceschini was elected by the party's national assembly with 1,047 votes out of 1,258. His only opponent Arturo Parisi won a mere 92 votes. Franceschini was the first former Christian Democrat to lead the party.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The 2009 European Parliament election was an important test for the PD. Prior to the election, the PD considered offering hospitality to the Socialist Party (PS) and the Greens in its lists, and proposed a similar pact to Democratic Left (SD). However, the Socialists, the Greens and Democratic Left decided instead to contest the election together as a new alliance called Left and Freedom which failed to achieve the 4% threshold required to return any MEPs, but damaged the PD, which gained 26.1% of the vote, returning 21 MEPs.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The national convention and a subsequent open primary were called for October, with Franceschini, Pier Luigi Bersani and Ignazio Marino were running for the leadership, while a fourth candidate, Rutigliano, was excluded because of lack of signatures. In local conventions, a 56.4% of party members voted and Bersani was by far the most voted candidate with 55.1% of the vote, largely ahead of Franceschini (37.0%) and Marino (7.9%). Three million people participated in the open primary on 25 October 2009; Bersani was elected new secretary of the party with about 53% of the vote, ahead of Franceschini with 34% and Marino with 13%. On 7 November, during the first meeting of the new national assembly, Bersani was declared secretary, Rosy Bindi was elected party president (with Marina Sereni and Ivan Scalfarotto vice-presidents), Enrico Letta deputy secretary and Antonio Misiani treasurer.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In reaction to the election of Bersani, perceived by some moderates as an old-style social democrat, Francesco Rutelli (a long-time critic of the party's course) and other centrists and liberals within the PD left in order to form a new centrist party, named Alliance for Italy (ApI). Following March 2009, and especially after Bersani's victory, many deputies, senators, one MEP and several regional/local councillors left the party to join the UdC, ApI and other minor parties. They included many "Rutelliani" and most Teodems.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In March 2010, a big round of regional elections, involving eleven regions, took place. The PD lost four regions to the centre-right (Piedmont, Lazio, Campania and Calabria), and maintained its hold on six (Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria and Basilicata), plus Apulia, a traditionally conservative region where due to divisions within the centre-right Nichi Vendola of SEL was re-elected with the PD's support.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In September 2011, Bersani was invited by Antonio Di Pietro's IdV to take part to its annual late summer convention in Vasto, Abruzzo. Bersani, who had been accused by Di Pietro of avoiding him in order to court the centre-right UdC, proposed the formation of a New Olive Tree coalition comprising the PD, IdV and SEL. The three party leaders agreed in what was soon dubbed the pact of Vasto. The pact was broken after the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as Prime Minister in November 2011, as the PD gave external support to Mario Monti's technocratic government, along with the PdL and the UdC.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: A year after the pact of Vasto, the relations between the PD and IdV had become tense. IdV and its leader, Antonio Di Pietro, were thus excluded from the coalition talks led by Bersani. To these talks were instead invited SEL led by Nichi Vendola and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) led by Riccardo Nencini. The talks resulted on 13 October 2012 in the Pact of Democrats and Progressives (later known as Italy. Common Good) and produced the rules for the upcoming centre-left primary election, during which the PD–SEL–PSI joint candidate for Prime Minister in the 2013 general election would be selected.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the primary, the strongest challenge to Bersani was posed by a fellow Democrat, the 37-year-old mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi, a liberal moderniser, who had officially launched his leadership bid on 13 September 2012 in Verona, Veneto. Bersani launched his own bid on 14 October in his hometown Bettola, north-western Emilia. Other candidates included Nichi Vendola (SEL), Bruno Tabacci (ApI) and Laura Puppato (PD).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the 2012 regional election, Rosario Crocetta (member of the PD) was elected president with 30.5% of the vote thanks to the support of the UdC, but the coalition failed to secure an outright majority in the Regional Assembly. For the first time in 50 years, a left-wing politician had the chance to govern Sicily.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 25 November, Bersani came ahead in the first round of the primary election with 44.9% of the vote, Renzi came second with 35.5%, followed by Vendola (15.6%), Puppato (2.6%) and Tabacci (1.4%). Bersani did better in the South while Renzi prevailed in Tuscany, Umbria and Marche. In the subsequent run-off, on 2 December, Bersani trounced Renzi 60.9% to 39.1% by winning in each and every single region but Tuscany, where Renzi won 54.9% of the vote. The PD secretary did particularly well in Lazio (67.8%), Campania (69.4%), Apulia (71.4%), Basilicata (71.7%), Calabria (74.4%), Sicily (66.5%) and Sardinia (73.5%).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the election, the PD and its coalition fared much worse than expected and according to pollsters predictions. The PD won just 25.4% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies (−8.0% from 2008) and the centre-left coalition narrowly won the majority in the house over the centre-right coalition (29.5% to 29.3%). Even worse, in the Senate the PD and its allies failed to get an outright majority due to the rise of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-right's victory in key regions such as Lombardy, Veneto, Campania, Apulia, Calabria and Sicily (the centre-right was awarded of the majority premium in those regions, leaving the centre-left with just a handful of elects there). Consequently, the PD-led coalition was unable to govern alone because it lacked a majority in the Senate which has equal power to the Chamber. As a result, Bersani, who refused any agreement with the PdL and was rejected by the M5S, failed to form a government.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After an agreement with the centre-right parties, Bersani put forward Franco Marini as his party's candidate for President to succeed to Giorgio Napolitano on 17 April. However, Renzi, several Democratic delegates and SEL did not support Marini. On 18 April, Marini received just 521 votes in the first ballot, short of the 672 needed, as more than 200 centre-left delegates rebelled. On 19 April, the PD and SEL selected Romano Prodi to be their candidate in the fourth ballot. Despite his candidacy had received unanimous support among the two parties' delegates, Prodi obtained only 395 votes in the fourth ballot as more than 100 centre-left electors did not vote for him. After the vote, Prodi pulled out of the race and Bersani resigned as party secretary. Bindi, the party's president, also resigned. The day after, Napolitano accepted to stand again for election and was re-elected President with the support of most parliamentary parties.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 28 April, Enrico Letta, the party's deputy secretary and former Christian Democrat, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy at the head of a government based around a grand coalition including the PdL, Civic Choice (SC) and the UdC. Letta was the first Democrat to become Prime Minister.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After Bersani's resignation from party secretary on 20 April 2013, the PD remained without a leader for two weeks. On 11 May 2013, Guglielmo Epifani was elected secretary at the national assembly of the party with 85.8% of vote. Epifani, secretary-general of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Italy's largest trade union, from 2002 to 2010, was the first former Socialist to lead the party. Epifani's mission was to lead the party toward a national convention in October.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: A few weeks after Epifani's election as secretary, the PD had a success in the 2013 local elections, winning in 69 "comuni" (including Rome and all the other 14 provincial capitals up for election) while the PdL won 22 and the M5S 1.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The decision, on 9 November, that the PD would organise the next congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Rome in early 2014, sparked protests among some of the party's Christian democrats, who opposed PES membership.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Epifani was little more than a secretary "pro tempore" and in fact frequently repeated that he was not going to run for a full term as secretary in the leadership race that would take place in late 2013, saying that his candidacy would be a betrayal of his mandate.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Four individuals filed their bid for becoming secretary, namely Matteo Renzi, Pippo Civati, Gianni Cuperlo and Gianni Pittella.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The leadership race started with voting by party members in local conventions (7–17 November). Renzi came first with 45.3%, followed by Cuperlo (39.4%), Civati (9.4%) and Pittella (5.8%). The first three were admitted to the open primary.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 8 December, Renzi, who won in all regions but was stronger in the Centre-North, trounced his opponents with 67.6% of the vote. Cuperlo, whose support was higher in the South, came second with 18.2% while Civati, whose message did well with northern urban and progressive voters, came third with 14.2%. On 15 December, Renzi, whose executive included many young people and a majority of women, was proclaimed secretary by the party's national assembly while Cuperlo was elected president as proposed by Renzi.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 20 January 2014, Cuperlo criticized the electoral reform proposed by Renzi in agreement with Berlusconi, but the proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the party's national board. The day after the vote, Cuperlo resigned from president. He was later replaced by Matteo Orfini, who hailed from the party's left-wing, but since then became more and more supportive of Renzi.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After frequent calls by Renzi for a new phase, the national board decided to put an end to Letta's government on 13 February and form a new one led by Renzi as the latter had proposed. Subsequently, Renzi was sworn in as Prime Minister on 22 February at the head of an identical coalition. On 28 February, the PD officially joined the PES as a full member, ending a decade-long debate.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the 2014 European Parliament election, the party obtained 40.8% of the vote and 31 seats. The party's score was virtually 15 percentage points up from five years before and the best result for an Italian party in a nationwide election since the 1958 general election, when Christian Democracy won 42.4%. The PD was also the largest national party within the Parliament in its 8th term. Following his party's success, Renzi was able to secure the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy within the European Commission for Federica Mogherini, his minister of Foreign Affairs.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In January 2015, Sergio Mattarella, a veteran left-wing Christian Democrat and founding member of the PD, whose candidacy had been proposed by Renzi and unanimously endorsed by the party's delegates, was elected President of Italy during a presidential election triggered by President Giorgio Napolitano's resignation.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: During Renzi's first year as Prime Minister, several MPs defected from other parties to join the PD. They comprised splinters from SEL (most of whom led by Gennaro Migliore, see Freedom and Rights), SC (notably including Stefania Giannini, Pietro Ichino and Andrea Romano) and the M5S. Consequently, the party increased its parliamentary numbers to 311 deputies and 114 senators by April 2015. Otherwise, Sergio Cofferati, Giuseppe Civati and Stefano Fassina left. They were the first and most notable splinters among the ranks of the party's internal left, but several others followed either Civati (who launched Possible) or Fassina (who launched Future to the Left and Italian Left) in the following months. By May 2016, the PD's parliamentary numbers had gone down to 303 deputies and 114 senators.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the 2015 regional elections, Democratic Presidents were elected (or re-elected) in five regions out of seven, namely Enrico Rossi in Tuscany, Luca Ceriscioli in Marche, Catiuscia Marini in Umbria, Vincenzo De Luca in Campania and Michele Emiliano in Apulia. As a result, 16 regions out of 20, including all those of central and southern Italy, were governed by the centre-left while the opposition Lega Nord led Veneto and Lombardy and propped up a centre-right government in Liguria.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After a huge defeat in the 2016 constitutional referendum (59.9% no, 40.1% yes), Renzi resigned as Prime Minister in December 2016 and was replaced by fellow Democrat Paolo Gentiloni, whose government's composition and coalition were very similar to those of the Renzi Cabinet. In February 2017, Renzi resigned also as PD secretary in order to run in the 2017 leadership election. Renzi, Andrea Orlando (one of the leaders of the Remake Italy faction; the other leader Matteo Orfini was the party's president and supported Renzi) and Michele Emiliano were the three contenders for the party's leadership.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Subsequently, a substantial group of leftists (24 deputies, 14 senators and 3 MEPs), led by Enrico Rossi (Democratic Socialists) and Roberto Speranza (Reformist Area), backed by Massimo D'Alema, Pier Luigi Bersani and Guglielmo Epifani, left the PD and formed Article 1 – Democratic and Progressive Movement (MDP), along with splinters from the Italian Left (SI) led by Arturo Scotto. Most of the splinters as well as Scotto were former Democrats of the Left. In December 2017, the MDP, SI and Possible would launch Free and Equal (LeU) under the leadership of the President of the Senate Pietro Grasso (another PD splinter).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In local conventions, Renzi came first (66.7%), Orlando second (25.3%) and Emiliano third (8.0%). In the open primary on 30 April, Renzi won 69.2% of the vote as opposed to Orlando's 20.0% and Emiliano's 10.9%. On 7 May, Renzi was sworn in as secretary again, with Maurizio Martina as deputy and Orfini was confirmed president.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the 2017 Sicilian regional election, Crocetta did not stand and the PD-led coalition was defeated.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the PD tried to form a broad centre-left coalition, but only minor parties showed interest. As a result, the alliance comprised Together (a list notably including the Italian Socialist Party and the Federation of the Greens), the Popular Civic List (notably including Popular Alternative, Italy of Values, the Centrists for Europe and Solidary Democracy) and More Europe (including the Italian Radicals, Forza Europa and the Democratic Centre).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the election, the PD obtained its worst result ever: 18.7% of the vote, well behind the M5S (32.7%) and narrowly ahead of the Lega (17.4%). Following his party's defeat, Renzi resigned from secretary and his deputy Martina started functioning as acting secretary.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After two months of negotiations and the refusal of the PD to join forces with the M5S, the latter and the Lega formed a government under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, a M5S-proposed independent. Thus, the party returned to opposition after virtually seven years and experienced some internal turmoil as its internal factions started to re-position themselves in the new context. Both Gentiloni and Franceschini distanced from Renzi while Carlo Calenda, a former minister in Renzi's and Gentiloni's governments who had joined the party soon after the election, proposed to merge the PD into a larger republican front. However, according to several observers Renzi's grip over the party was still strong and he was still the PD's leader behind the scenes.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In July, Maurizio Martina was elected secretary by the party's national assembly and a new leadership election was scheduled for the first semester of 2019. On 17 November 2018, Martina resigned and the national assembly was dissolved, starting the electoral proceedings.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: During Martina's tenure, especially after a rally in Rome in September, the party started to prepare for the leadership election.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In January 2019, Calenda launched the "We Are Europeans" manifesto advocating for a pro-Europeanist joint list at the upcoming European Parliament election. Among those who signed there were several Democratic regional presidents and mayors as well as Giuseppe Sala and Giuliano Pisapia, two independents who are the current mayor of Milan and his predecessor, respectively. Calenda aimed at uniting the PD, More Europe and the Greens–Italia in Comune.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Three major candidates, Martina, Nicola Zingaretti and Roberto Giachetti, plus a handful of minor ones, formally filed papers in order to run for secretary. Prior to that, Marco Minniti, minister of the Interior in the Gentiloni Cabinet, had also launched his bid, before renouncing in December and supporting Zingaretti. Zingaretti won the first round by receiving 47.4% of the vote among party members in local conventions. He, along with Martina and Giachetti, qualified for the primary election, to be held on 3 March. In the event, Zingaretti was elected secretary, exceeding expectations and winning 66.0% of the vote while Martina and Giachetti won 22.0% and 12.0%, respectively.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Zingaretti was officially appointed by the national assembly, on 17 March. On the same day, former Prime Minister Gentiloni was elected as the party's new president. A month later, Zingaretti appointed Andrea Orlando and Paola De Micheli as deputy secretaries.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament election Zingaretti presented a special logo including a large reference to "We Are Europeans" and the symbol of the PES. Additionally, the party forged an alliance with Article One. In the election, the PD garnered 22.7% of the vote, finishing second after the League. Calenda was the most voted candidate of the party.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In August 2019 tensions grew within Conte's government coalition, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister Conte by the League. After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S, based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy. The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government, and on 29 August President Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so. Disappointed by the party's decision to form a government with the M5S, Calenda decided to leave and establish We Are Europeans as an independent party.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The Conte II Cabinet took office on 5 September, with Franceschini as Minister of Culture and head of the PD's delegation. Gentiloni was contextually picked by the government as the Italian member of the von der Leyen Commission and would serve as European Commissioner for the Economy.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 18 September, Renzi, who had been one of the earliest supporters of a M5S–PD pact in August, left the PD and established a new centrist party named Italia Viva (IV). 24 deputies and 13 senators (including Renzi) left. However, not all supporters of Renzi followed him in the split: while the Always Forward and Back to the Future factions mostly followed him, most members of Reformist Base remained in the party. Other MPs and one MEP joined IV afterwards.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: From 15 to 17 November, the party held a three-days convention in Bologna, named "Tutta un'altra storia" ("A whole different story"), with the aim of presenting party's proposals for the 2020s decade. The convention was characterized by a strong leftward move, stressing a strong distance from liberal and centrist policies promoted under Renzi's leadership. Some newspapers, like "La Stampa", compared Zingaretti's new policies to Jeremy Corbyn's. On 17 November the party's national assembly approved the new party's statute, featuring the separation between the roles of party secretary and candidate for Prime Minister.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Starting from November 2019, the grassroots Sardines movement began in the region of Emilia-Romagna, aimed at contrasting the rise of right-wing populism and the League in the region. The movement endorsed the PD's candidate Stefano Bonaccini in the upcoming Emilia-Romagna regional election. In the next months the movement grew to a national level. On 26 January Bonaccini was re-elected wuth 51.4% of the vote. On the same day, in the Calabrian regional election, the centre-left candidate supported by the PD lost to the centre-right candidate Jole Santelli, who won with 55.3% of the vote.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In February 2020 the party's national assembly unanimously elected its new president, Valentina Cuppi, mayor of Marzabotto.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the September 2020 regional elections the party lost Marche to the centre-right, but held Tuscany, Campania and Apulia.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 13 January 2021 Renzi's IV withdrew its support for the second Conte cabinet, triggering the 2021 Italian government crisis. The government won motions of confidence in both chambers of Parliament, but still lacked an overall majority, leading to Conte's resignation. In resulting discussions, Zingaretti and the PD pushed for Conte to be reappointed Prime Minister. They participated in negotiations with the M5S, IV, and LeU, from 30 January to 2 February, but IV ultimately rejected the option of a renewed coalition. President Mattarella then appointed Mario Draghi to form a cabinet, which won support from the League and Forza Italia (FI) on 10 February. The PD's national board voted unanimously to join the new government on 11 February. Later that day, the M5S also agreed to support the cabinet in an online referendum. The PD had three ministers in the Draghi Cabinet: Lorenzo Guerini, who remained Minister of Defence; Andrea Orlando, the new Minister of Labour and Social Policies; and Dario Franceschini, who retained a modified Minister of Culture portfolio.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the midst of the formation of Draghi's government, Zingaretti was heavily criticized by the party's minority for his management of the crisis and strenuous support to Conte. On 4 March, after weeks of internal turmoil, Zingaretti announced his resignation as secretary, stating that he was "ashamed of the power struggles" within the party. In the next days, many prominent members of the PD, including Zingaretti himself, but also former Prime Minister Gentiloni, former party secretary Franceschini and President of Emilia-Romagna Bonaccini, publicly asked former Prime Minister Enrico Letta to become the new leader of the party. Following an initial reluctancy, Letta stated that he needed a few days to evaluate the option. On 12 March, he officially accepted his candidacy as new party's leader. On 14 March, the national assembly of the PD elected Letta secretary with 860 votes in favour, 2 against and 4 abstentions.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 17 March, Letta appointed Irene Tinagli and Peppe Provenzano as his deputy secretaries. On the following day, he appointed the party's new executive, composed of eight men and eight women. Later that month, Letta forced the party's eaders in Parliament, Graziano Delrio and Andrea Marcucci, to resign and proposed the election of two female leaders: consequently, Simona Malpezzi and Debora Serracchiani were elected to replace them.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In October 2021, Letta won the by-election for the Siena district with 49.9% of votes, returning to the Parliament after six years. In the concurrent local elections, the PD and its allies won municipal elections in Milan, Bologna, Naples, Rome, Turin and many other major cities across the country.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In July 2022 the M5S did not participate in a Senate's confidence vote on a government bill. Prime Minister Draghi offered his resignation, which was rejected by President Mattarella. After a few days, Draghi sought a confidence vote again to secure the government majority supporting his cabinet, while rejecting the proposal put forward by Lega and FI of a new government without the M5S. In that occasion, the M5S, Lega, FI and FdI did not participate in the vote. Consequently, Draghi tendered his final resignation to President Mattarella, who dissolved the houses of Parliament, leading to the 2022 general election. The event led the party to terminate the alliance with the M5S.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the run-up of the election, the PD formed a joint list named Democratic and Progressive Italy (IDP) along with several minor parties, notably including Article One, the Italian Socialist Party and Solidary Democracy. The PD also signed individual alliances with Action–More Europe, the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) formed by Green Europe and Italian Left, and Luigi Di Maio's and Bruno Tabacci's Civic Commitment. Under each agreement, the PD would give a number of candidates in single-seat constituencies to each coalition partner. A few days before the closing of coalitions and lists, Calenda announced that he was walking away from the pact he has signed with Letta because of the subsequent alliances that the PD had formed, notably including that with the AVS. The IDP list offered a broad range of candidates, including some high-profile independents: left-wingers like Susanna Camusso and Elly Schlein, the liberal economist Carlo Cottarelli, Christian-democrat and long-time MP Pier Ferdinando Casini, scientist Andrea Crisanti, etc.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the election the PD obtained 19.1% of the vote and the centre-left coalition lost to the centre-right coalition, whose leader Giorgia Meloni went on to form a government. Consequently, Letta announced that he would step down from party secretary and that a leadership election would determine the party's new leader in 2023.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The 2023 leadership election will be the final step of a "constituent" process for the PD, meaning that the party is going to amend its statute, update its internal charters and refresh its political platform, while welcoming individuals, minor parties and groups. Among minor parties, Article One, Solidary Democracy and the [[Democratic Centre (Italy)|Democratic Centre] have indicated intent to merge into the PD. Outgoing secretary Letta and Article One leader [[Roberto Speranza]] were chosen to lead the committee overseeing the process.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Former minister [[Paola De Micheli]] was the first to announce her candidacy in late September, but the two top contenders are [[Stefano Bonaccini]], [[List of presidents of Emilia-Romagna|president of Emilia Romagna]], and [[Elly Schlein]], Bonaccini's former deputy. Bonaccini is supported by several mayors, notably including Florence's [[Dario Nardella]], and the more moderate factions of the party, notably including [[Reformist Base]], while the more radical Schlein can count on the endorsement on the party's left and some bigwigs, including former leaders [[Dario Franceschini]] and [[Nicola Zingaretti]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The PD is a [[big tent]] [[centre-left]] party, influenced by the ideas of [[social democracy]] and [[Christian left]]. The common roots of the founding components of the party reside in the [[Italian resistance movement]], the writing of [[Italian Constitution]] and the [[Historic Compromise]], all three events which saw the [[Italian Communist Party]] and [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] (the two major forerunners of the [[Democrats of the Left]] and [[Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy]], respectively) cooperate. [[Modern American liberalism]] is an important source of inspiration. In a 2008 interview to "[[El País]]", Veltroni, who can be considered the main founding father of the party, clearly stated that the PD should be considered a [[reformist]] party and could not be linked to the traditional values of the [[political left]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: There is also a debate on whether the PD is actually a social-democratic party and to what extent. In 2009, Alfred Pfaller observed that the PD "has adopted a pronounced centrist-pragmatic position, trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of middle-class and working-class voters, but shying away from a determined pursuit of redistributive goals". In 2016, [[Gianfranco Pasquino]] commented that "for almost all the leaders, militants and members of the PD, social democracy has never been part of their past nor should represent their political goal", adding that "its overall identity and perception are by no means those of a European-style social-democratic party". The party's economics policies accepted [[economic liberal]] elements under Renzi's leadership, moving towards adopting more explicitly [[neoliberal]] and [[monetarist]] policies as a result of the [[Third Way]] philosophy adopted by European social-democratic parties.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The party stresses national and social cohesion, [[progressivism]], a moderate [[social liberalism]], [[green politics|green]] issues, [[progressive tax]]ation, and [[pro-Europeanism]]. In this respect, the party's precursors strongly supported the need of balancing budgets in order to comply to [[Euro convergence criteria|Maastricht criteria]]. Under Veltroni and Renzi, the party took a strong stance in favour of constitutional reform and of a new electoral law on the road toward a [[two-party system]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: While traditionally supporting the [[social integration]] of immigrants, the PD has adopted a more critical approach on the issue since 2017. Inspired by Renzi, re-elected secretary in April; and [[Marco Minniti]], interior minister since December 2016, the party promoted stricter policies regarding [[immigration]] and [[public security]]. These policies resulted in broad criticism from the left-wing [[Article One (political party)|Democrats and Progressives]] (partners in government) as well as left-leaning intellectuals like [[Roberto Saviano]] and [[Gad Lerner]]. In August, Lerner, who was among the founding members of the PD, left the party altogether due to its new immigration policies.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: It is not an easy task to include the trend represented by [[Matteo Renzi]], whose supporters have been known as Big Bangers, Now!, or more frequently "[[Renziani]]", in any of the categories above. The nature of Renzi's [[progressivism]] is a matter of debate and has been linked both to [[liberalism]] and [[populism]]. According to Maria Teresa Meli of "[[Corriere della Sera]]", Renzi "pursues a precise model, borrowed from the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and [[Bill Clinton]]'s [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]", comprising "a strange mix (for Italy) of liberal policies in the economic sphere and populism. This means that, on one side, he will attack the privileges of trade unions, especially of the [[Italian General Confederation of Labour|CGIL]], which defends only the already protected, while, on the other, he will sharply attack the vested powers, bankers, [[Confindustria]] and a certain type of capitalism ... ". After Renzi led some of his followers out of the party and launched the alternative [[Italia Viva]] party, a good chunk of "Renziani" (especially those affiliated to Reformist Base and Liberal PD) remained in the PD. Other leading former "Renziani" notably include [[Lorenzo Guerini]], [[Graziano Delrio]] (party leader in the Chamber) and [[Andrea Marcucci]] (party leader in the Senate).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: International affiliation was quite a controversial issue for the PD in its early days and it was settled only in 2014.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The debate on which [[European political party]] to join saw the former [[Democrats of the Left]] generally in favour of the [[Party of European Socialists]] (PES) and most former members of [[Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy]] in favour of the [[European Democratic Party]] (EDP), a component of the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group|Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe]] (ALDE) Group. After the party's formation in 2007, the new party's MEPs continued to sit with the PES and ALDE groups to which their former parties had been elected during the [[2004 European Parliament election in Italy|2004 European Parliament election]]. Following the [[2009 European Parliament election in Italy|2009 European Parliament election]], the party's 21 MEPs chose to unite for the new term within the [[European parliamentary group]] of the PES, which was renamed the [[Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats]] (S&D).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: On 15 December 2012, PD leader [[Pier Luigi Bersani]] attended in Rome the founding convention of the [[Progressive Alliance]] (PA), a nascent [[political international]] for parties dissatisfied with the continued admittance and inclusion of authoritarian movements into the [[Socialist International]] (SI). On 22 May 2013, the PD was a founding member of the PA at the international's official inauguration in [[Leipzig]], [[Germany]] on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the formation of the [[General German Workers' Association]], the oldest of the two parties which merged in 1875 in order to form the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: [[Matteo Renzi]], a centrist who led the party in 2013–2018, wanted the party to join both the SI and the PES. On 20 February 2014, the PD leadership applied for full membership of the PES. In Renzi's view, the party would count more as a member of a major European party and within the PES it would join forces with alike parties such as the British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. On 28 February, the PD was welcomed as a full member into the PES.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The PD includes several internal factions, most of which trace the previous allegiances of party members. Factions form different alliances depending on the issues and some party members have multiple factional allegiances.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the election, which saw the victory of [[Walter Veltroni]], the party's internal composition was as follows:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the election, which saw the victory of [[Pier Luigi Bersani]], the party's internal composition was as follows:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the summer of 2010, [[Dario Franceschini]], leader of [[AreaDem]] (the largest minority faction) and [[Piero Fassino]] re-approached with [[Pier Luigi Bersani]] and joined the party majority. As a response, [[Walter Veltroni]] formed [[Democratic Movement (Italy)|Democratic Movement]] to defend the "original spirit" of the PD. In doing this he was supported by 75 deputies: 33 "[[Veltroniani]]", 35 [[The Populars|Populars]] close to [[Giuseppe Fioroni]] and 7 former "[[Rutelliani]]" led by [[Paolo Gentiloni]]. Some pundits hinted that the Bersani-Franceschini pact was envisioned in order both to marginalise Veltroni and to reduce the influence of [[Massimo D'Alema]], the party bigwig behind Bersani, whose 2009 bid was supported primarily by "[[Dalemiani]]". Veltroni and D'Alema had been long-time rivals within the centre-left.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: As of September the party's majority was composed of those who supported Bersani since the beginning (divided in five main factions: "[[Bersaniani]]", "Dalemiani", "[[Lettiani]]", "[[Democrats Really|Bindiani]]" and the party's left-wing) and AreaDem of Franceschini and Fassino. There were also two minority coalitions, namely Veltroni's Democratic Movement ("Veltroniani", Fioroni's Populars, ex-"Rutelliani", [[Democratic Ecologists]] and a majority of [[Liberal PD]] members) and [[Change Italy]] of [[Ignazio Marino]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: According to "[[Corriere della Sera]]" in November 2011, the party was divided mainly in three ideological camps battling for its soul:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: Since November 2011, similar differences surfaced in the party over [[Monti Cabinet]]. While the party's right-wing, especially Liberal PD, was enthusiastic in its support, Fassina and other leftists, especially those linked to trade unions, were critical. In February 2012, Fassina published a book in which he described his view as "neo-labourite humanism" and explained it in connection with [[Catholic social teaching]], saying that his "neo-labourism" was designed to attract Catholic voters. Once again, his opposition to [[economic liberalism]] was strongly criticized by the party's right-wing as well as by [[Stefano Ceccanti]], a leading Catholic in the party and supporter of [[Tony Blair]]'s [[New Labour]], who said that a leftist platform "à la" Fassina would never win back the Catholic vote in places like [[Veneto]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: According to YouTrend, a website, 35% of the Democratic deputies and senators elected in the [[2013 Italian general election|2013 general election]] were "[[Bersaniani]]", 23% members of [[AreaDem]] (or [[Democratic Movement (Italy)|Democratic Movement]]), 13% "[[Renziani]]", 6% "[[360 Association|Lettiani]]", 4.5% "[[Dalemiani]]", 4.5% [[Remake Italy|Young Turks/Remake Italy]], 2% "[[Democrats Really|Bindiani]]" and 1.5% "[[Giuseppe Civati|Civatiani]]".


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: As the party performed below expectations, more Democrats started to look at Renzi, who had been defeated by Bersani in the [[2012 Italian centre-left primary election|2012 primary election]] to select the centre-left's candidate for Prime Minister. In early September, two leading centrists, namely Franceschini and Fioroni (leaders of Democratic Area and The Populars), endorsed Renzi. Two former leaders of the [[Democrats of the Left]], Veltroni and Fassino, also decided to support Renzi while a third, D'Alema, endorsed [[Gianni Cuperlo]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In October, four candidates filed their bid to become secretary, namey Renzi, Cuperlo, [[Giuseppe Civati|Pippo Civati]] and [[Gianni Pittella]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the election, which saw the victory of [[Matteo Renzi]], the party's internal composition was as follows:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the election which saw the victory of [[Matteo Renzi]], the party's internal composition was as follows:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the election which saw the victory of [[Nicola Zingaretti]], the party's internal composition was as follows:


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: After the leadership election, supporters of Martina divided in two camps: the liberal and centrist wing close to Renzi (including [[Lorenzo Guerini]] and [[Luca Lotti]]) formed [[Reformist Base]], while social-democrats (including Martina, [[Tommaso Nannicini]] and [[Debora Serracchiani]]), as well as some leading centrists (Delrio and Richetti) formed [[Side by Side (Italy)|Side by Side]]. Additionally, hard-core "Renziani", led by Giachetti, formed [[Always Forward]]. Others, led by [[Ettore Rosato]], formed [[Back to the Future (Italy)|Back to the Future]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: As previously the [[Italian Communist Party]], the [[Democratic Party of the Left]], the [[Democrats of the Left]] and [[The Olive Tree (Italy)|The Olive Tree]], the PD has its strongholds in [[Central Italy]] and big cities. The party governs six [[regions of Italy|regions]] out of twenty and the cities of [[Rome]], [[Milan]], [[Naples]], [[Turin]], [[Bologna]], [[Florence]] and [[Bari]]. It also takes part to the government of several other cities, including [[Padua]], [[Bergamo]], [[Brescia]] and [[Verona]].


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: In the [[2008 Italian general election|2008]] and [[2013 Italian general election|2013 general elections]], the PD obtained its best results in [[Tuscany]] (46.8% and 37.5%), [[Emilia-Romagna]] (45.7% and 37.0%), [[Umbria]] (44.4% and 32.1%), [[Marche]] (41.4% and 27.7%), [[Liguria]] (37.6% and 27.7%) and [[Lazio]] (36.8% and 25.7%). Democrats are generally stronger in the [[Northern Italy|North]] than the [[Southern Italy|South]], with the sole exception of [[Basilicata]] (38.6% in 2008 and 25.7% in 2013), where the party has drawn most of its personnel from [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] (DC).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The [[2014 European Parliament election in Italy|2014 European Parliament election]] gave a thumping 40.8% of the vote to the party which was the first Italian party to get more than 40% of the vote in a nationwide election since DC won 42.4% of the vote in the [[1958 Italian general election|1958 general election]]. In 2014, the PD did better in Tuscany (56.6%), Emilia-Romagna (52.5%) and Umbria (49.2%), but made significant gains in [[Lombardy]] (40.3%, +19.0% from 2009), [[Veneto]] (37.5%, +17.2%) and the South. The [[2018 Italian general election|2018 general election]] was a major defeat for the party as it was reduced to 18.7% (Tuscany 29.6%).


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The electoral results of the PD in general ([[Chamber of Deputies (Italy)|Chamber of Deputies]]) and [[European Parliament]] elections since 2008 are shown in the chart below.


title: Democratic Party (Italy)

text: The electoral results of the PD in the 10 most populated regions of Italy are shown in the table below and in the chart electoral results in Italy are shown.


title: PEN15

text: PEN15 is an American cringe comedy streaming television series, created by Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and Sam Zvibleman, that premiered on February 8, 2019, on Hulu. The series stars Erskine and Konkle, who also serve as executive producers alongside Zvibleman, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Becky Sloviter, Marc Provissiero, Brooke Pobjoy, Debbie Liebling, and Gabe Liedman.


title: PEN15

text: In May 2019, Hulu renewed the series for a second season of fourteen episodes, the first half of which premiered on September 18, 2020. In November 2021, it was reported that the series' second season will be its final season.


title: PEN15

text: "PEN15" is described as "middle school as it really happened". Erskine and Konkle – who were both 31 years old at the start of season 1 – "play versions of themselves as 13-year-old social outcasts in the year 2000, surrounded by actual 13-year-olds, where the best day of your life can turn into your worst with the stroke of a gel pen." The show takes its name from a school prank involving tricking someone in to writing the word "PEN15" on their hands, by asking if they want to join the "Pen 15 Club."


title: PEN15

text: On April 19, 2018, Hulu announced that it had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Erskine and Konkle were also expected to write for the series and Zvibleman was set to direct multiple episodes. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of The Lonely Island, Party Over Here, Odenkirk Provissiero, and AwesomenessTV. On November 19, 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on February 8, 2019. On May 1, 2019, it was reported that Hulu renewed the series for a second season, of which the first seven episodes were released on September 18, 2020. The first episode from the second set of seven episodes premiered on August 27, 2021. Originally intended to run for three seasons, the filming of the second season was severely delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and by the conclusion both Erskine and Konkle had new acting roles, as well as parental responsibilities. On November 29, 2021, it was reported that the series' second season would be its final season.


title: PEN15

text: Alongside the announcement of the series order, it was confirmed that Erskine and Konkle would star in the series as well.


title: PEN15

text: On November 19, 2018, a video was released announcing the premiere date of the series. On December 20, 2018, a teaser trailer for the series was released. On January 18, 2019, an official trailer and poster were released. The first season was released on Hulu on February 8, 2019, and the first seven episodes of the second season were released on September 18, 2020. The eighth episode of the season was released on August 27, 2021, and the rest premiered on December 3, 2021.


title: PEN15

text: On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a "Certified Fresh" 94% approval rating with an average rating of 8.04 out of 10 based on 47 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Viewers willing to suspend their disbelief will find much to enjoy in "Pen15", wherein Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle reprise their adolescent selves – stirring up plenty of yucks and pathos amidst the farce." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 82 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: PEN15

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, season two holds a 100% approval rating based on 52 reviews with an average rating of 8.82/10. The critical consensus reads, "An excellent showcase for Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and their well-cast classmates, "PEN15"'s sophomore season goes deeper into the nuances of middle school life without losing any of its cringey charm." On Metacritic, season 2 received a score of 93 out of 100 based on 11 critical reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Sitar

text: The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th century figure of Mughal Empire has been identified by modern scholarship as the originator of Sitar. According to most historians he developed sitar from setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin. Another view supported by a minority of scholars is that Khusrau Khan developed it from "Veena".


title: Sitar

text: Used widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became popularly known in the wider world through the works of Ravi Shankar, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1960s, a short-lived trend arose for the use of the sitar in Western popular music, with the instrument appearing on tracks by bands such as the Beatles, the Doors, the Rolling Stones and others.


title: Sitar

text: The book "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" suggests possibility of the sitar's origin as that evolved from one or more instruments of the tanbūr family, long necked lutes which it argues were introduced and popularised during the period of Mughal rule. Allyn Miner, a concert performer and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that the evidence of indigenous long-necked lutes in India is particularly lacking. According to this view, when Muslim rule began in Northern India in 1192, the conquerors brought with them tanbur-family instruments, and other instruments in their "multi-national" army. In this early period, the Muslim instrument was linked to the tradition of Sufi ecstatic dance, "sufiānā rang".


title: Sitar

text: It was also theorized in Muslim tradition, that the sitar was invented, or rather developed by Amir Khusrow ( 1253–1325), a famous Sufi inventor, poet and pioneer of Khyal, Tarana and Qawwali, during the 13th century. However, the tradition of Amir Khusrow is considered discredited by some scholars. Whatever instruments he might have played, no record exists from this period using the name "sitar".


title: Sitar

text: Another, more minor hypothesis is that the sitar is derived from locally developed Indian instruments, such as the veena, prior to the arrival of Islam. Indian temple sculptures from the 9th and 10th centuries are known to feature sitar-like instruments. However, according to Allyn Miner, the evidence for this theory is too weak for any conclusion.


title: Sitar

text: In the early Mughal Empire (1526–1707), tanbur-style instruments continued to be used in court. They were beginning to change; in images from the period, an instrument resembling an Uzbek dutar or a tambūrā is being played on the shoulder, with the "deep bridge of the modern sitar and the tambūrā". Looking at the musicians (the way they played their instruments in surviving images, their identities that were recorded) led historian Alastair Dick to conclude that the instrument was being adopted for Hindu music by Hindu musicians. The instrument was used for "Persian and Hindu melodies". According to Dick, the "modern view that ... invading Muslims simply changed into Persian the name of an existing Hindu instrument ... has no historical or musical foundation".


title: Sitar

text: In the late Mughal Empire (1707–1858), the instrument began to take on its modern shape. The neck got wider. The bowl, which had been made of glued lathes of wood was now made of gourd, with metal frets and a bone nut on the neck.


title: Sitar

text: By about 1725, the name "sitar" was used in the "Hammir-raso" by Jodhraj, a Rajasthan author. The instrument had 5 strings by this time. The beginnings of the modern 7-string tuning were present too.


title: Sitar

text: A sitar can have 18, 19, 20, or 21 strings; 6 or 7 of these run over curved, raised frets and are played strings; the remainder are sympathetic strings ("tarb", also known as "taarif" or "tarafdaar"), running underneath the frets and resonating in sympathy with the played strings. These strings are generally used to set the mood of a raga at the very beginning of a presentation. The frets, which are known as or thaat, are movable, allowing fine tuning. The played strings run to tuning pegs on or near the head of the instrument, while the sympathetic strings, which have a variety of different lengths, pass through small holes in the fretboard to engage with the smaller tuning pegs that run down the instrument's neck.


title: Sitar

text: The instrument has two bridges: the large bridge ("badaa goraa") for the playing and drone strings and the small bridge ("chota goraa") for the sympathetic strings. Its timbre results from the way the strings interact with the wide, rounded bridge. As a string vibrates, its length changes slightly as one edge moves along the rounded bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called "jawari". Many musicians rely on instrument makers to adjust this.


title: Sitar

text: Materials used in construction include teak wood or "tun" wood ("Cedrela toona"), which is a variation of mahogany, for the neck and faceplate ("tabli"), and calabash gourds for the resonating chambers. The instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or very occasionally from camel bone. Synthetic material is now common as well.


title: Sitar

text: There are two popular modern styles of sitar: the fully decorated "instrumental style" (sometimes called the "Ravi Shankar style") and the "gayaki" style (sometimes called the "Vilayat Khan" style).


title: Sitar

text: The instrumental style sitar is most often made of seasoned toon wood, but sometimes made of Burma teak. It is often fitted with a second resonator, a small tumba (pumpkin or pumpkin-like wood replica) on the neck. This style is usually fully decorated, with floral or grape carvings and celluloid inlays with colored (often brown or red) and black floral or arabesque patterns. It typically has 13 sympathetic strings. It is said that the best Burma teak sitars are made from teak that has been seasoned for generations. Therefore, instrument builders look for old Burma teak that was used in old colonial-style villas as whole trunk columns for their special sitar constructions. The sources of very old seasoned wood are a highly guarded trade secret and sometimes a mystery.


title: Sitar

text: There are various additional sub-styles and cross mixes of styles in sitars, according to customer preferences. Most importantly, there are some differences in preferences for the positioning of sympathetic ("taraf") string pegs (see photo).


title: Sitar

text: Amongst all sitar styles, there are student styles, beginner models, semi-pro styles, pro-models, master models, and so on. Prices are often determined by the manufacturer's name and not by looks alone or materials used. Some sitars by certain manufacturers fetch very high collectible prices. Most notable are older Rikhi Ram (Delhi) and older Hiren Roy (Kolkata) sitars, depending upon which master built the instrument. Nikhil Banerjee had a small extra bridge fixed at the top of the Sitar fingerboard for sustenance of sound.


title: Sitar

text: Tuning depends on the sitarist's school or style, tradition and each artist's personal preference. The main playing string is almost invariably tuned a perfect fourth "above" the tonic, the second string being tuned to the tonic. The tonic in the Indian solfège system is referred to as "ṣaḍja", "ṣaḍaj", or the shortened form "sa", or "khaṛaj", a dialectal variant of "ṣaḍaj", not as "vād", and the perfect fifth to which one or more of the drones strings are tuned is referred to as "pañcam", not "samvād".


title: Sitar

text: In one or more of the more common tunings (used by Ravi Shankar, among others, called "Kharaj Pancham" sitar) the playable strings are strung in this fashion: