From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lega Nord Piemont
Lega Nord Piemont
Lega Nord Piemont
Secretary Roberto Cota
President vacant Historical party flag of Lega Nord Piemont
Founded 1987
Its leader Roberto Cota is the President of Piedmont
Newspaper none since March 2010.
Membership unknown
Ideology Federalism, Fiscal federalism,
History
Regionalism
International none
Early years
affiliation The party was founded in April 1987 by spliters from
Piedmontese Union (Union Piemontèisa, UP), led by Gipo
European affiliation none
Farassino and Mario Borghezio. This group, which took
Coalition with The People of Freedom the name of Piedmontese Autonomist Movement (Movi-
Website
ment Autonomista Piemontèis, MAP) and soon later Autono-
mist Piedmont (Piemont Autonomista, PA), wanted to make
http://www.leganordpiemonte.net an alliance with Lega Lombarda of Umberto Bossi, in con-
Politics of Italy trast with UP leader Roberto Gremmo.[1]
Political parties PA participated to the 1989 European Parliament
Elections election as part of the coalition Lega Lombarda – Alleanza
Nord. In 1989–1990 it took part in the process of federat-
ing the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the region-
al 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, fed-
Flag of Piedmont eral secretary of Lega Nord, and started his own party,
which was integrated into the Autonomists for Europe in
Lega Nord Piemont (North League Piedmont, LNP) is a re- 2000.
gionalist political party in Italy that is the regional sec- Troubled by splits and loss of popular support (the
tion of Lega Nord in Piedmont. party was reduced from the 18.2% of 1996 to 7.8% in
three years), LNP entered in coalition with the centre-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lega Nord Piemont
1990 re- 1992 1994 1995 re- 1996 1999 2000 re- 2001 2004 2005 re- 2006 2008 2009 2010 Re-
gional general general gional general European gional general European gional general general European gional
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
right Pole of Freedoms. From 2000 to 2005 the party took The party is represented in the Italian Parliament by
part to the regional government led by Enzo Ghigo (Forza eight deputies and three senators, in the Regional Coun-
Italia), which included LNP long-time leader Gipo Farassi- cil of Piedmont by three regional deputies and in the
no as regional minister of Culture, and Roberto Cota was European Parliament by Mario Borghezio and Oreste Ros-
President of the Regional Council. In 2001 Cota was elect- si. Michelino Davico, a senator from Cuneo, is Under-Sec-
ed also national secretary of LNP. retary of the Interior in Berlusconi IV Cabinet. In Pied-
The party has since then recovered. Between 2006 mont two provinces, Cuneo and Biella, are led by Lega
and the 2008 general election the party doubled its share Nord members, Gianna Gancia and Roberto Simonetti re-
of vote from 6.3% to 12.3%. Subsequently Cota became spectively, while Massimo Giordano is Mayor of Novara.
floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Chamber of Cota was floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Chamber
Deputies. In the 2009 European Parliament election LNP of Deputies.
increased again reaching 15.7% of the vote, its best result
since 1996.
Popular support
2010 regional election The party has its stongholds in the outer provinces of
Main article: Piedmontese regional election, 2010 Piedmont, in rural and mountain areas. In the 2010 re-
For the 2010 regional election Roberto Cota was chosen gional election it won 25.3% in Cuneo, 24.4% in Vercelli,
as joint candidate for President by The People of Freedom 21.6% in Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, 21.1% in Novara, 20.6% in
and Lega Nord.[2] His opponent was incumbent President Asti and 20.2% in Biella.
Mercedes Bresso, a Democrat. The electoral results of Lega Nord Piemont in the Re-
The day after his bid was announced, Cota explained gion are shown in the table below.
that it is time to rewrite the history of Italian unification,
that was led by the Kingdom of Sardinia under the House Leadership
of Savoy. Cota underlined that Piedmont was once an
• National Secretary: Gipo Farassino (1987–1996),
independent state and told that even Camillo Benso di
Domenico Comino (1996–1999), Bernardino Bosio
Cavour did not intend to unify the whole Italian Penin-
(1999–2001), Roberto Cota (2001–present)
sula and later favoured a federal reform of the new King-
• National President: Angelo Colli (1991–1992),
dom of Italy. For these reasons Cota, who is a republican
Domenico Comino (1993–1994), Bernardino Bosio
and has no nostalgia of the House of Savoy, he says that
(1996–1999), Silvano Straneo (2000–2001), Oreste
his message will do well in Piedmont and that he will
Rossi (2001–2004), Mario Borghezio (2004–2011)
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 sup- References
port will come from industrial workers, including those
[1] David Parenzo; Davide Romano, Romanzo Padano. Da
of Southern descent, and Catholics embarrassed by Bres-
Bossi a Bossi. Storia della Lega, Sperling & Kupfer,
so’s secularism.[3]
Milan 2009, p. 48
In March Cota was narrowly elected President over
[2] http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/dicembre/
Bresso and LNP triplicated the number of its seats in the
17/
Regional Council from four to twelve. Conclusive for Co-
Pdl_Udc_basta_tensioni_Regionali_co_8_091217033.shtml
ta’s win were the strong showing of Beppe Grillo’s Five
[3] http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/dicembre/
Star Movement, which gained 3.7% of the vote mainly
19/
from centre-left voters, and the Catholic vote that tilted
Cota_lotta_Cavour_Savoia_meridionali_co_9_091219024.shtml
to Cota, disappointing the Union of the Centre, allied
with Bresso in the election.
External links
Members • Official website
The current national secretary is Roberto Cota.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lega_Nord_Piemont&oldid=442361809"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lega Nord Piemont
Categories:
• Political parties in Piedmont
• Political parties established in 1987
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