South American Union Italian Emigrants

USEI was founded in 2006 by Eugenio Sangregorio, a Calabrian-born entrepreneur.[1]

In the 2006 general election the party won 4.7% of the vote in the South American constituency of the Chamber of Deputies.[2] USEI did not participate in the 2008 general election,[3] but continued to be active and improve its network.

In the 2013 general election USEI won 13.3% of the vote in the South American constituency and elected Renata Bueno to the Chamber of Deputies.[4] Bueno was the daughter of Rubens Bueno,[5] a long-time member of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies for the Brazilian Socialist Party.[6][7] After the election, she formed a parliamentary alliance with the alternative Associative Movement Italians Abroad (MAIE) within the Mixed Group of the Chamber, that lasted for two and half years.[8]

Despite the fact that USEI's and Sangregorio's political orientation was broadly centre-right,[9][10] Bueno, due to her family's political upbringing, started to be supportive of the Democratic Party (PD), the country's main centre-left party, and, particularly, its leader Matteo Renzi,[11] who served as Prime Minister from February 2014 to December 2016.

Curiously enough, in November 2015, Bueno joined forces with Identity and Action (IdeA), a centre-right party opposed to Renzi.[12] Subsequently, she formed a sub-group, named after the USEI (and, later, "USEI–IdeA"), within the Mixed Group of the Chamber, along with Aniello Formisano of Italy of Values (IdV), a party traditionally affiliated to the centre-left, and Guglielmo Vaccaro of Unique Italy (IU).[8][9][13] Right after its formation, the sub-group was joined also by the other two IdeA deputies, Eugenia Roccella and Vincenzo Piso.[8] The USEI–IdeA sub-group was dissolved in May 2017.[8] After that, Bueno was affiliated with Civics and Innovators (CI) and Direction Italy (DI).[8] Sangregorio, who had opposed the constitutional reform proposed by Renzi with the 2016 constitutional referendum (Renzi lost and resigned from Prime Minister), was not willing to field Bueno again as a USEI candidate.[14]

In the 2018 general election the party won 18.7% of the vote in the South American constituency and Sangregorio was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, while Bueno led the Popular Civic List to 6.3% (compared to 0.5% in Italy) and was not elected. USEI ran also for the Senate, obtaining 20.4% and the election of Adriano Cario. In May 2018 Cario left the USEI and switched to MAIE.[15]

On 18 December 2019, USEI formed with the centrist allies of Forza Italia (Alliance of the Centre and Us with Italy) and the centre-right Cambiamo! the new sub-group within the Mixed Group "Noi con l'Italia-USEI-Cambiamo!-Alleanza di Centro".

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies – Italians abroad
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats	# of seats for Italians abroad	±
2006	14,205	1.46	0 / 630	0 / 12	0
2013	44,024	4.5	1 / 630	1 / 12	1
2018	65.363	6.05	1 / 630	1 / 12	1

Senate – Italians abroad
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats	# of seats for Italians abroad	±
2006	12,552	1.41	0 / 315	0 / 6	0
2013	38.223	4.3	0 / 315	0 / 6	0
2018	65.059	6.56	1 / 315	1 / 6	1

• Official website