Lega Piemonte: Difference between revisions
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| ideology = [[Federalism]], [[Fiscal federalism]], [[Regionalism (politics)|Regionalism]]| |
| ideology = [[Federalism]], [[Fiscal federalism]], [[Regionalism (politics)|Regionalism]], [[Right-wing populism]]<ref>[http://www.parties-and-elections.de/italy.html Parties and elections in Europe. Italy]</ref>| |
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Revision as of 11:57, 30 March 2011
Lega Nord Piemont | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary | Roberto Cota |
| President | Mario Borghezio |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Newspaper | none |
| Membership | unknown |
| Ideology | Federalism, Fiscal federalism, Regionalism, Right-wing populism[1] |
| European affiliation | none |
| European Parliament group | Europe of Freedom and Democracy |
| International affiliation | none |
| Coalition | with The People of Freedom |
| Website | |
| http://www.leganordpiemonte.net | |
Lega Nord Piemont (North League Piedmont, LNP) is a regionalist political party in Italy that is the regional section of Lega Nord in Piedmont.
Its leader Roberto Cota is the President of Piedmont since March 2010.
History
Early years
The party was founded in April 1987 by spliters from Piedmontese Union (Union Piemontèisa, UP), led by Gipo Farassino and Mario Borghezio. This group, which took the name of Piedmontese Autonomist Movement (Moviment Autonomista Piemontèis, MAP) and soon later Autonomist Piedmont (Piemont Autonomista, PA), wanted to make an alliance with Lega Lombarda of Umberto Bossi, in contrast with UP leader Roberto Gremmo.[2]
PA participated to the 1989 European Parliament election as part of the coalition Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord. In 1989–1990 it took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections. In February 1991 it merged into Lega Nord, taking the current name, and since then it has been the regional section of that party in Piedmont.
In the 1996 general election the party obtained its best result ever: 18.2%.
Splits and recovery
In 1999 the party suffered a damaging split when Domenico Comino, at the time secretary of the party, left the party over disagreements with Umberto Bossi, federal secretary of Lega Nord, and started his own party, which was integrated into the Autonomists for Europe in 2000.
Troubled by splits and loss of popular support (the party was reduced from the 18.2% of 1996 to 7.8% in three years), LNP entered in coalition with the centre-right Pole of Freedoms. From 2000 to 2005 the party took part to the regional government led by Enzo Ghigo (Forza Italia), which included LNP long-time leader Gipo Farassino as regional minister of Culture, and Roberto Cota was President of the Regional Council. In 2001 Cota was elected also national secretary of LNP.
The party has since then recovered. Between 2006 and the 2008 general election the party doubled its share of vote from 6.3% to 12.3%. Subsequently Cota became floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. In the 2009 European Parliament election LNP increased again reaching 15.7% of the vote, its best result since 1996.
2010 regional election
For the 2010 regional election Roberto Cota was chosen as joint candidate for President by The People of Freedom and Lega Nord.[3] His opponent was incumbent President Mercedes Bresso, a Democrat.
The day after his bid was announced, Cota explained that it is time to rewrite the history of Italian unification, that was led by the Kingdom of Sardinia under the House of Savoy. Cota underlined that Piedmont was once an independent state and told that even Camillo Benso di Cavour did not intend to unify the whole Italian Peninsula and later favoured a federal reform of the new Kingdom of Italy. For these reasons Cota, who is a republican and has no nostalgia of the House of Savoy, he says that his message will do well in Piedmont and that he will overcome the weakness of Lega Piemont (that usually gets far less votes than Liga Veneta in Veneto and Lega Lombarda in Lombardy). In Cota's view, most of his support will come from industrial workers, including those of Southern descent, and Catholics embarrassed by Bresso's secularism.[4]
In March Cota was narrowly elected President over Bresso and LNP triplicated the number of its seats in the Regional Council from four to twelve. Conclusive for Cota's win were the strong showing of Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement, which gained 3.7% of the vote mainly from centre-left voters, and the Catholic vote that tilted to Cota, disappointing the Union of the Centre, allied with Bresso in the election.
Members
The current national secretary is Roberto Cota, while Mario Borghezio is national president. This is a odd couple as Cota is seen as a moderate figure, while the latter is a firebrand representative of the party's right-wing.[4]
The party is represented in the Italian Parliament by eight deputies and three senators, in the Regional Council of Piedmont by three regional deputies and in the European Parliament by Oreste Rossi and Borghezio. Michelino Davico, a senator from Cuneo, is Under-Secretary of the Interior in Berlusconi IV Cabinet. In Piedmont two provinces, Cuneo and Biella, are led by Lega Nord members, Gianna Gancia and Roberto Simonetti respectively, while Massimo Giordano is Mayor of Novara. Cota was floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
Popular support
The party has its stongholds in the outer provinces of Piedmont, in rural and mountain areas. In the 2010 regional election it won 25.3% in Cuneo, 24.4% in Vercelli, 21.6% in Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, 21.1% in Novara, 20.6% in Asti and 20.2% in Biella.
The electoral results of Lega Nord Piemont in the Region are shown in the table below.
| 1990 regional | 1992 general | 1994 general | 1995 regional | 1996 general | 1999 European | 2000 regional | 2001 general | 2004 European | 2005 regional | 2006 general | 2008 general | 2009 European | 2010 Regional |
| 5.1 | 16.3 | 15.7 | 9.9 | 18.2 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 5.9 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 6.3 | 12.6 | 15.7 | 16.7 |
Leadership
- National Secretary: Gipo Farassino (1987–1996), Domenico Comino (1996–1999), Bernardino Bosio (1999–2001), Roberto Cota (2001–present)
- National President: Angelo Colli (1991–1992), Domenico Comino (1993–1994), Bernardino Bosio (1996–1999), Silvano Straneo (2000–2001), Oreste Rossi (2001–2004), Mario Borghezio (2004–present)
References
- ^ Parties and elections in Europe. Italy
- ^ David Parenzo; Davide Romano, Romanzo Padano. Da Bossi a Bossi. Storia della Lega, Sperling & Kupfer, Milan 2009, p. 48
- ^ http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/dicembre/17/Pdl_Udc_basta_tensioni_Regionali_co_8_091217033.shtml
- ^ a b http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/dicembre/19/Cota_lotta_Cavour_Savoia_meridionali_co_9_091219024.shtml
External links
