Di Pietro said: "Our party has been the first in Italy to follow U.S. president Barack Obama. We invite other Italian parties to support gay marriage. You don't have to be shy, you have to say yes".
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In the party congress, convened for 28–30 June, delegates chose the new leader, a secretary instead of a president, among five candidates: Antonio Borghesi, Matteo Castellarin, Ignazio Messina, Niccolò Rinaldi and Nicola Scalera.
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The populist course taken by the party, that enforced its co-operation with the far left, and the emergence of more "extreme" figures like de Magistris led Pino Pisicchio and his centrist faction to leave the party in order to join Francesco Rutelli's Alliance for Italy (ApI) in November 2009.
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The party was founded on 9 December 2010 by three deputies coming from centre-left parties and headed to support the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi: Massimo Calearo (ex-PD and ex-ApI), Bruno Cesario (ex-PD and ex-ApI) and Domenico Scilipoti (ex-IdV).
In opposition to this, Prodi supporters, grassroots activists, disgruntled Populars and other groups (including Movement for Democracy – The Net and Italy of Values) organized a new "Ulivist" party, The Democrats.
In the first round, held on 5 May 2012, he was the most voted candidate with 48% of votes despite being only supported by his own Italy of Values and a number of minor left-wing parties (Federation of the Greens and Federation of the Left).