Lega Liguria ( en, Liguria League), whose complete name is ( en, Liguria League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

active in

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

. Established in 1987, it was one of the founding "national" sections of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

(LN) in 1991 and has been the regional section of

Lega per Salvini Premier Lega ( en, League), whose official name is Lega per Salvini Premier ( en, League for Salvini Premier; abbr. LSP or LpSP), is a right-wing populist political party in Italy, led by Matteo Salvini. The LSP is the informal successor of Lega Nord ( ...

(LSP) in Liguria since 2020. Since 2015

Edoardo Rixi Edoardo Rixi (born 8 June 1974, in Genoa) is an Italian politician. Early life and education In 2000, Rixi graduated in economics from the University of Genoa with the thesis:"Dalla crisi degli anni '90 alla moneta unica". In 2014 he attended ...

has been the party's leader.

History

The party was founded in 1987 by

Bruno Ravera Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

as Ligurian Union (''Uniun Ligure''). It participated to the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was the third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other m ...

as part of the coalition

Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord (''Lombard League – Northern Alliance'') was an electoral alliance for the 1989 European Parliament election in Italy. It was composed by six regionalist parties representative of six Northern regions: *Lega Lom ...

. In 1989–1990 it took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections. In February 1991 it was one of the founding members of

, taking the current name, and since then it has been the "national" section of that party in Liguria. At the 1992 general election the LNL obtained 14.3% of the vote in Liguria, making it one of the early strongholds of the LN. The LNL played a big role in party politics since the beginning. In 1993

Maurizio Balocchi Maurizio is an Italian masculine given name, derived from the Ancient Rome, Roman name Mauritius (given name), Mauritius. Mauritius is a derivative of Maurus (disambiguation), Maurus, meaning ''dark-skinned, Moors, Moorish''. List of people with t ...

was appointed federal administrative secretary (i.e. treasurer). In February 2010, after the sudden death of Balocchi,

Francesco Belsito Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

, Ligurian and close aide of Balocchi, was appointed in his place. The LNL has also been represented in

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

's governments by

Sergio Cappelli Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass * ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film * ''Se ...

(1994–1995), Balocchi (2001–2006, 2008–2010), Belsito (2010–2012), and Sonia Viale (2010–2012). Over the years, the party suffered several splits, including one led by Ravera, who was welcomed back in 1998 and appointed "president for life". In 2001 a group of keen separatists led by Vincenzo Matteucci formed the

Ligurian Independentist Movement The Ligurian Independentist Movement ( it, Movimento Indipendentista Ligure, M.I.L.) was a regional political party in Italy. It was founded in Genoa on 14 January 2001 by a group of citizens, some of them from the Ligurian Lega Nord, belonging ...

(MIL). In the 2010 regional election the LNL gained 10.2% of the vote and three regional councillors. In April 2012 Belsito was charged of money-laundering, embezzlement and fraud at the expenses of the federal party and was thus expelled. Being Belsito a Ligurian, the scandal hit the LNL and its leadership.

Francesco Bruzzone Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...

, who had been secretary since 1998, decided to step down after that he was asked to do so by leading members of the party. Viale secured the support of 80% of delegates (115 votes) in a party congress, against the 20% (28) of her opponent

Giacomo Chiappori Giacomo is an Italian name. It is the Italian version of the Hebrew name Jacob. People * Giacomo (name), including a list of people with the name Other uses * Giacomo (horse) Giacomo (foaled February 16, 2002 in Kentucky) is a champion America ...

, and was elected in his place, while Bruzzone was elected president and

Andrea Corrado Andrea Corrado (Albissola Marina, 15 October 1873 – Genoa, 1963) was an Italian ship-owner. Early life The son of a well known Genoese boat builder, Andrea Corrado completed his Shipmaster examination at age 17, and by 1892 had advanced to t ...

, who had been president since 1992, honorary president. In the 2015 regional election the LNL obtained its best result ever with 20.3% of the vote and was instrumental for the election of

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

Giovanni Toti Giovanni Toti (born 7 September 1968) is an Italian journalist and politician, who has been President of Liguria since June 2015. Toti was also elected to the European Parliament, following the 2014 European Parliament election. Biography Born ...

as President of Liguria. In fact, the LNL had renounced to run its own candidate,

, in favour of Toti in the run-up of the election and won almost twice the votes of Forza Italia in the election itself. As a result, the LNL returned to participate in the regional government, led by its leader Viale, who was appointed Vice President and minister of Health by Toti, while Rixi minister of Economic Development. Contextually, Bruzzone was elected President of the Regional Council. In December 2015, during a national congress, Rixi (144 votes, 61% of the total) beat and succeeded to Viale (83) as secretary. In the 2018 general election the party confirmed its strength in Liguria with 19.9% of the vote. Flag of Liguria (Lega Nord)

Popular support

Lega Nord Liguria has suffered a steady decline in term of votes since 1992 (when it obtained 14.3% at the regional level), but has recently re-gained strength and reached 20.3% in the 2015 regional election, its best result until that moment. The party is usually stronger in the western part of the region, indeed in the latest election it got 22.7% of the vote in the

Province of Imperia The Province of Imperia ( it, Provincia di Imperia, french: Province d'Imperia, Ligurian: ''Provinsa d’Imperia'') is a mountainous and hilly province, in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the L ...

, 24.4% in

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

, 18.7% in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

and 18.5% in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

. The electoral results of Lega Nord Liguria in the region are shown in the tables below.

Leadership

*Secretary:

(1987–1994),

(1994–1998),

(1998–2012), Sonia Viale (2012–2015),

(2015–present) *President:

(1992–2012),

(2012–2020) *President for life:

(1998–2017) *Honorary President:

(2012–2018)

External links

Official website

References

{{Lega Nord 1989 establishments in Italy Federalist parties in Italy Lega Nord Political parties established in 1989 Political parties in Liguria