ROME – Italian politics in the last 20 years has leant itself to the formation of new parties. As the stranglehold of the country’s traditional parties broke down in the 1990s in the wake of the “Clean Hands” scandal, new political forces, from Forza Italia in 1993 (and re-branded in 2013) to the more recent Five Star Movement (M5S) in 2009 have successfully sprung onto the political scene, helped in no small part by the necessity of coalition-building for the formation of governments.

 One of the more recent forces, founded only in Dec 2017 and running in the March 4 elections is the leftist Potere al Popolo (Power to the People), headed by Viola Carofalo.

 At the time of her appointment as head, the 37-year-old Carofalo appeared in a video stating that she was “not a political leader, I am only a spokesperson,” reminding the party that it’s manifesto had been collectively written in order “to build a true democracy and regrant power to the power.”

 Such a disclaimer belies a more impressive figure. Carofalo is a researcher and teacher of philosophy L’Orientale University in Naples, and, she emphasises, one of the “precarious” that her party tries to speaks for.

 Carofalo, speaking to the foreign press on Tuesday, explained that “four months ago we were a movement,” but that now “their objective was obviously to have representatives after March 4 elections.”

 On the one hand, Potere identify with the new left-wing movements springing up across Europe. The likes of the UK Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn, Podemos in Spain and Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France have all provided inspiration.

 “In many other countries, the answer has been the formation of other parties of the left,” Carofalo suggested, and she has previously stated that Mélenchon’s stance on the European Union had been informative for her party’s call to rewrite the EU treaties in favour of workers.

 However, Potere also look back to a distinctly Italian leftist history. The party is actually a coalition of mainly communist parties.

 Not only communism but Italy’s Centri Sociali have also played a large role. Beginning in the 1980s, these “social centres” were formed by left-wing activists who reclaimed or squatted in buildings, renovating them and providing services but also, at times, being linked to violence in Italy.

 Potere al Popolo owes its existence to one such social centre in Naples, Ex OPG "Je so' pazzo" (I am crazy), who initially proposed the merger of groups that led to the founding of the party. Likewise, its leader, Carofalo, is an activist for the group.

 So how different is Potere from past and present leftist groups?

 One aspect that separates them from other forces of the left comes from their emphasis on female representation in politics. A point Carofalo underlined on Tuesday by suggesting that the party “represented those who aren’t represented, first of all for women,” but also for the “precarious and the young.”

 Unlike, Jeremy Corbyn, who came under fire early in his leadership for a largely male team, Potere have genuine claims to speak to the under-representation of women. The party is the only coalition with female electoral candidates outnumbering male.

 While Carofalo isn’t quite as young as M5S’s 31-year-old leader, Luigi Di Maio, at 37 she doesn’t trail him by much and her argument that “objectively my generation and the younger generation than me, live in conditions of life that are much worse compared to their parents” will no doubt chime with many young Italians.

 Potere also have a better claim, in Carofalo’s eyes, to being a genuinely new political force than their recently-formed rivals, Liberi e Uguali, who she dismisses as a movement born out of “internal disputes” in the Democratic Party (PD) under Matteo Renzi. “We truly represent the majority,” she contends.

 But though she emphasised that Potere are an “experimental force,” who weren’t looking to export a Venezuelan or Cuban-style of government into Italy, the movement do remain locked into a certain vision when they call for the “nationalisation of the Bank of Italy” or the cancellation of certain temporary employment contracts.

 They also remain in a battle with Italy’s far-right. Asked about the violence of the centri sociali on Tuesday, Carofalo defended members of Potere as “calm people” who were “more often the victims of aggression.”

 Nonetheless, she reiterated the argument that the “centre of the problem” remains far-right and Neo-Fascist groups, “who should be illegal.” Potere’s manifesto suggests that such organisations should be treated like the mafia, having their wealth and assets seized.

 Whether or not Potere’s blend of old and new can give the party the three percent vote-share that it needs to be represented in Italy’s parliament remains to be seen. They certainly face stiff opposition from Italy’s gamut of novel parties.

 However, Carofalo maintains that these elections are not the final hurdle but a springboard for the future. Though she believes they will have the necessary votes, she remains adamant that the priority remains “growing the network and movement after March 4.”

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