1999 European election marked a turning point in relations between Forza Italia and the Northern League. In fact, the assembly works in Parliament had highlighted a growing programmatic convergence between the two parties. And so, in view of the 2001 general election, Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi put aside the old, and even bloody quarrels, and formed a new coalition: the House of Freedoms, which found in the regional elections, also in Tuscany, its first test. So the center-right candidate, Altero Matteoli, an important figure on the national landscape, was sustained also by the Northern League, which in 1995 had sustained Chiti.
The combination of what were the major forces of regional politics, securing an appointment to Claudio Martini, which ensured stability of the Regional Cabinet that the new regulations wanted to coincide in term with the legislature. Democrats of the Left was confirmed as the largest party in the region with 36% of the vote, while Forza Italia was the second largest party with 20%. The Olive Tree, an alliance comprising several centre-left parties including the Italian People's Party, the Democrats of the Left, The Democrats, the Federation of the Greens and Party of Italian Communists, had a reconfirmation but lost votes.
10.6%)
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