The party was founded and named after Mario Segni, a former member of the Christian Democrats who was a prominent promoter of referendums.

[5] The Pact for Italy included in its lists Republicans (Giorgio La Malfa, Alberto Zorzoli, Vittorio Dotti, Danilo Poggiolini and Carla Mazzuca Poggiolini), Liberals (Valerio Zanone, Pietro Milio and Luigi Compagna), Socialists (Giuliano Amato, Giulio Tremonti and Claudio Nicolini), Democratic Socialists (Enrico Ferri and Gian Franco Schietroma), and several former Christian Democrats (Mario Segni himself, Diego Masi, Gianni Rivera, Alberto Michelini, Enrico Indelli, Elisabetta Gardini, Michele Cossa, Livio Filippi, Vincenzo Viola, etc.).

[5] In 1995 the party and PPI joined the centre-left coalition, with the Pact contesting the 1996 general election as part of Italian Renewal,[5] winning eight seats at the Chamber of Deputies (Masi, Giuseppe Bicocchi, Elisa Pozza Tasca, Gianni Rivera, Antonino Mangiacavallo, Gianantonio Mazzocchin, Bonaventura Lamacchia, Paolo Manca) and one seat at the Senate of the Republic (Mazzuca Poggiolini).

In 1999, after having contributed to the foundation of the Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR), the Pact attracted some former Radicals from FI (Marco Taradash, Giuseppe Calderisi, etc.

In the 1999 European Parliament election the party formed a joint list with National Alliance which received 10.3% of the vote, and Segni was re-elected MEP.