People's Union (Italy)

The People's Union (Unione Popolare, UP) is a left-wing political alliance in Italy launched on 9 July 2022 by Luigi de Magistris.

Background
During a national assembly of Democracy and Autonomy (DemA) in January 2022, Luigi de Magistris, party leader and former Mayor of Naples, announced his intention to create a new coalition of left-wing parties, starting from his own party. In February, four deputies founded a sub-group at the Chamber of Deputies called "ManifestA". All of them had been elected in the 2018 general election for the Five Star Movement, a big-tent populist party, and then left the party and joined either Power to the People (PaP) or Communist Refoundation Party (PRC).

In April, at the Chamber of Deputies, de Magistris and the four deputies of ManifestA, held a joint conference to launch a coalition of parties opposed to the Russo-Ukrainian war and Mario Draghi's government for the next general election, initially scheduled to be held in 2023. He also stated that the group would not join the centre-left coalition led by the Democratic Party.

In July, De Magistris organised an assembly named "Towards the People's Union", which was attended also by PaP, the PRC, ManifestA and other groups.

The alliance participated in the 2022 general election, receiving over 400,000 votes and zero seats.

In December, the 4th October Movement, a brekaway-party from the Five Star Movement, announced they will join the UP, along with their two regional councillors in Piedmont.

In the run-up of the 2024 European Parliament election the UP and its components joined Peace Land Dignity, a pacifist electoral list proposed by journalist Michele Santoro. In March 2024 de Magistris, after refusing to stand as a candidate in the upcoming election, left UP's leadership altogether.