Table of Contents
Mani Pulite
Overview
Mani Pulite, or known as 'Operation Clean Hands', was a nationwide political scandal that led to the downfall of the First Italian Republic(from 1948 to 1994), and led to the demise of many prominent Italian parties. With the arrest of Mario Chiesa, a member of the Italian Socialist party, it saw the beginning of the Mani Pulite judicial investigation in Milan, with subsequent investigations into other politicians and figures.
The scandal involved six former prime ministers, and as many as 5,000 public figures fell under suspicion. At some point, more than half of the Italian parliament were indicted.
Many referred to the corrupt system uncovered as Tangentopoli. The term derives from Italian tangente, which means “kickback”, and Greek polis meaning “city. This refers to kickbacks given for public works contracts, it is thus sometimes translated as “Bribesville” or “Kickback City”.
The Beginning of Tangentopoli
The start of the scandal began in 1992 with the arrest of Mario Chiesa, manager of a public hospice and member of the Italian Socialist Party(PSI). Mario Chiesa was charged with accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm, with the investigation conducted by Antonio Di Pietro, the judge who would become most associated with the investigation.
The PSI attempted to distanced themselves from Chiesa, with party leader Bettino Craxi calling him mariuolo, translated to “scoundrel”, of an otherwise clean party. Upset over this treatment by the PSI, Chiesa began willing to give information about scandals and corruption that implicated them. This resulted in a series of investigations that exposed the corrupt political system of Italy, particularly in Milan.
Progression of Tangentopoli
Following the general election from 5th to 6th April 1992, many industrial figures and politicians from both the government and the opposition were arrested on charges of corruption, spreading out of Milan. Like the attitude of the PCI towards Mario Chiesa, many politicians to drop support for subordinates who got caught. In turn, this made many of them feel betrayed, resulting in a willingness to often implicate other figures, who in turn would implicate even more.
On 2 September 1992, the PSI politician Sergio Moroni, who had been charged with corruption, committed suicide, leaving behind a letter declaring that his crimes were not for his personal gain but for the party's benefit.
Effect of Tangentopoli in Italy
On 25 March 1993, the Parliament changed municipal electoral law in favor of a majoritarian system. Later on 18 April 1993, the public overwhelmingly backed the abrogation of the existing proportional representation system in a referendum (mixed-member proportional representation was introduced that August). Socialist Prime Minister Giuliano Amato (1992–93), resigned shortly after the passage of the referendum, and President Scalfaro requested for Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to step in and act as a technical government without political influence.
The backlash from the scandal caused Italy's main political parties to lose power in the 1992 and 1993 local elections, with many becoming dissolved in 1993 and 1994, with the exception of the Democratic Party of the left(PDS).
The Christian Democrats became the Italian Popular Party(PPI), with some member of the party leaving to form several smaller Catholic-inspired political groupings. Pier Ferdinando Casini, representing the right-wing faction of the party decided to launch a new party called the Christian Democratic Centre(CCD). Some right-wingers felt Casini's Party was still too moderate, causing them to join the National Alliance. On the other end, the left-wing factions stayed within the new PPI. However, a minority formed the Social Christians in 1993 and joined forces with the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left (DPS).
Members of the neofascist MSI (which had remained largely outside of the system of corruption) formed the new National Alliance(AN). The Socialists, with the Mani Pulite causing infamy and distrust by voters towards the party, became irrelevant.
The dissolution and reforms of Italy's political system and parties marked the start of what is referred to as the “Second Republic” from 1994. With the 1994 elections Silvio Berlusconi stepping into office as prime minister as leader of the Pole of Freedoms coalition, which included Forza Italia, the north italian far-right Lega Nord party and the far-right National Alliance.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Italian_Republic#Silvio_Berlusconi
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Moroni
https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Italy-at-the-turn-of-the-21st-century#ref319115
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite