Led by Clemente Mastella, minister of Labour in Berlusconi I Cabinet (1994–1995), minister of Justice in Prodi II Cabinet (2006–2008) and current mayor of Benevento (since 2016), the party has been at times very strong in Southern Italy, but almost irrelevant in Northern Italy. After a decline in terms of popularity in 2007–2008, the party resisted only in Campania, Mastella's heartland, and few other regions. The party was briefly revived in the run-up of the 2018 general election.
In the run-up to the 2001 general election the UDEUR joined the Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL) electoral list, along with the Italian People's Party, The Democrats and Italian Renewal. Under the leadership of Francesco Rutelli, who ran also as leader of the entire The Olive Tree centre-left coalition, DL gained 14.6% of the vote. The list's success led to a debate over forming a joint party. When DL was effectively transformed into a party in early 2002, the UDEUR refused to join and remained an independent party within the centre-left.
Heyday
In 2004 the party changed its official name to UDEUR Populars and amended its symbol accordingly (it would later go back to its original name).
On 16 January 2008 Clemente Mastella, who was under investigation by prosecutor Luigi de Magistris, resigned as Minister of Justice and on 21 January decided to withdraw his party's support to Romano Prodi, who himself resigned after a vote of confidence in the Senate on 24 January, clearing the way toward a snap election.
At the 2008 general election both The People of Freedom (PdL) and the Union of the Centre (UdC) refused the UDEUR as coalition partner. The party was thus reduced to a regional party in Campania. The party chose not to present any list in the election and even Mastella decided not to run for re-election.[8]
After the fall
In February 2009 the UDEUR formed an alliance with the PdL in Campania; under the agreement, the UDEUR supported centre-right candidates in the 2009 provincial and municipal elections in the region[9] and Mastella was elected to the 2009 European Parliament election in the PdL list.
After being almost disbanded in 2008, the party tried to recover and broaden its base. Some former UDEUR members came back[10] and new members joined. The latter included Giulio Di Donato, a former leading figure of the Italian Socialist Party, who was appointed regional secretary in Campania.[11] In 2010 the party was briefly known as Populars for the South,[3][12] as it was active only in the South by that time. In 2011 Mastella ran for mayor of Naples and gained just 2.5% of the vote.[13]
The party was revived in the run-up of the 2018 general election, in alliance with the Union of the Centre (UdC), and re-styled once again its symbol.[16][17][18][19] However, Mastella later formed a new pact with FI, under which his wife would run in the election, and in February 2018 they officially joined FI.[20][21]
In 2020, Mastella re-branded the party under the name Us Campanians (Noi Campani), taking part in the 2020 Campania regional election in support of the Democratic governor, Vincenzo De Luca. In 2021, Mastella launched a new political party in order to compete in countrywide elections: Us of the Centre (Noi di Centro).[22]
