Rosy Bindi
# Rosy Bindi

Maria Rosaria "Rosy" Bindi (Italian pronunciation:; born 12 February 1951) is an Italian politician and the former President of the Antimafia Commission.

## Career

Born in Sinalunga (Tuscany), she graduated in political science. She was standing near the lawyer Vittorio Bachelet when he was assassinated by the Red Brigades in 1980. She held the position of vice-president of Azione Cattolica, the most popular Italian Catholic lay association, from 1984 to 1989, the year she joined the Christian Democracy (DC) party.

After the dissolution of the DC party, Bindi joined the Italian People's Party and became a leading figure in The Olive Tree, the broad left-to-centre coalition led by Romano Prodi. Following the coalition's victory in the 1996 general election, she was named Minister of Health, a position she held also in the following governments led by Massimo D'Alema.

During her tenure at the Ministry of Health, through her circular "Circolare Bindi del 2 dicembre 1996", electroshock therapy was re-introduced in Italy to treat psychiatrised patients. It was later corrected by "Circolare Bindi del 15 February 1999" 'limiting' use of ECT in particular cases but without revoke it.

In the 2001 general election she was elected for the third time to the Chamber of Deputies in the college of Cortona representing Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. After the victory of The Union in the 2006 Italian general election, she became Minister for the Family, serving in that post until 2008.

Bindi competed for the leadership of the Democratic Party in the party's founding leadership election, and received 12.93% of the vote cast. She continues to work for the party, leading the Democrats Really faction.

In April 2017 the Antimafia Commission -whose President was Bindi- invited the Italian Guardia di Finanza to seize and make public the lists of 35,000 members of the 4 main Italian Masonic obediences.

## Electoral history

| Election | House | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1989 | European Parliament | North–East Italy | DC | 211,170 | Y Elected |
| 1994 | Chamber of Deputies | Veneto 1 | PPI | – | Y Elected |
| 1996 | Chamber of Deputies | Cortona | Ulivo | 60,443 | Y Elected |
| 2001 | Chamber of Deputies | Cortona | Ulivo | 56,452 | Y Elected |
| 2006 | Chamber of Deputies | Tuscany-at-large | Ulivo | – | Y Elected |
| 2008 | Chamber of Deputies | Tuscany-at-large | PD | – | Y Elected |
| 2013 | Chamber of Deputies | Calabria-at-large | PD | – | Y Elected |

* 1 2 3 4 Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.

### First-past-the-post elections

1996 general election (C): Tuscany — Cortona :

| Candidate | Candidate | Coalition | Votes | % |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Rosy Bindi | The Olive Tree | 60,443 | 65.1 |
| | Anna Duchini | Pole for Freedoms | 29,193 | 31.4 |
| | Others | Others | 3,287 | 3.5 |
| Total | Total | Total | 92,923 | 100.0 |

2001 general election (C): Tuscany — Cortona :

| Candidate | Candidate | Coalition | Votes | % |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Rosy Bindi | The Olive Tree | 56,452 | 61.5 |
| | Leonardo Giomarelli | House of Freedoms | 32,623 | 35.5 |
| | Others | Others | 2,794 | 3.0 |
| Total | Total | Total | 91,869 | 100.0 |
