Lega Emilia ( en, Emilia League), whose complete name is ( en, Emilia 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

Emilia Emilia may refer to: People * Emilia (given name), list of people with this name Places * Emilia (region), a historical region of Italy. Reggio, Emilia * Emilia-Romagna, an administrative region in Italy, including the historical regions of Emi ...

, part of

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

region. Established in 1989, 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 Emilia since 2020. The party is currently led by a commissioner,

Matteo Rancan Matteo is the Italian language, Italian form of the given name Matthew (name), Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Mat ...

History

The party was founded in 1989 by

Giorgio Conca Giorgio may refer to: * Castel Giorgio, ''comune'' in Umbria, Italy * Giorgio (name), an Italian given name and surname * Giorgio Moroder, or Giorgio, Italian record producer ** ''Giorgio'' (album), an album by Giorgio Moroder * "Giorgio" (son ...

, a leading member of Lega Lombarda, and

Carla Uccelli Carla is the feminized version of Carl, Carlos or Charles, from ''ceorl'' in Old English, which means "free man". Notable people with the name include: * Carla, French singer and former member of the children's music group Kids United * Carla Ab ...

, as Emilian-Romagna League (''Lega Emiliano-Romagnola'', LER), thus comprising also

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

. Soon after the LER was joined by Fabio Dosi, who was elected secretary. The party 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. In 1989–1990 the LER took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections, taking the current name, upon the separation from Lega Nord Romagna (LNR). Since then LNE and LNR have been the two regional sections of

in Emilia-Romagna, but continue to cooperate in regional politics. From 2002 to 2012 the party was led by

Angelo Alessandri Angelo Alessandri (born 29 September 1969 in Reggio Emilia) is an Italian politician. He has been the leader of the Northern League Emilia and federal president of the Northern League (from 2005 to 2012). He was elected to the Italian Chambe ...

, who served also as federal president of Lega Nord from 2005 to 2012. At the 2008 general election the party elected four deputies (including Alessandri and Gianluca Pini, leader of Lega Nord Romagna) and two senators (including

Angela Maraventano Angela Maraventano (born September 14, 1964) is an Italian politician, senator of Northern League elected in Emilia-Romagna during the election of 2008. She was deputy-mayor of Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπα� ...

, leader of ''Extreme South'' and Deputy-Mayor of

Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The ''comune'' of L ...

). In May 2012 Alessandri stepped down from secretary and was replaced by

Fabio Rainieri Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian (name), Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usu ...

, an ally of

Roberto Maroni Roberto Ernesto Maroni (; 15 March 1955 – 22 November 2022) was an Italian politician from Varese and a past President of Lombardy. He was the leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padan ...

and one of the leaders of the party's agricultural wing. Rainieri, who had formerly been president, was elected with the support of 173 delegates at the party's congress, while his opponent Riad Ghelfi had secured just 93. Some weeks later, Manes Bernardini, a party's rising star from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, was elected president by the party's national council with 70% of the vote. In November Alessandri left the party altogether. At the same time a group of activists quit in order to join

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...

's campaign for the 2012 centre-left primary election. In June 2014 Pietro Pisani replaced Bernardini as national president. Bernardini would leave the party altogether in October. In the 2014 regional election the joint list of LNE and LNR obtained its best result so far in a regionwide election (19.4%). In December 2015, during a national congress, Gianluca Vinci (204 votes) beat

(143) and was elected secretary. The vote was setback for Lega Nord's federal secretary

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of Federal ...

, who supported Rancan: though not an ''anti-salviniano'', Vinci was once close to

Flavio Tosi Flavio Tosi (born 18 June 1969) is an Italian politician who served as the mayor of Verona from 2007 to 2017. He has been a long-time member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord. Political career Having joined Liga Veneta (LV) in 1991, Tosi was elected ...

, a Venetian leader who was ejected by Salvini from the party earlier that year, and a more independent figure. In January 2016 Giovanni Tombolato was elected national president. In the 2019 European Parliament election the party obtained 33.8%, its best result ever. In the

2020 Emilia-Romagna regional election The 2020 Emilia-Romagna regional election took place in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on 26 January 2020. The result was the victory of the Centre-left coalition (Italy), centre-left coalition and the confirmation of Stefano Bonaccini as President of Em ...

LNE's

Lucia Borgonzoni Lucia Borgonzoni (born September 18, 1976) is an Italian politician and member of the Senate of Italy. She served as Undersecretary for Cultural Heritage and Activities in the Conte I Cabinet. Biography Daughter of Italian architect Giambattista ...

posed the strongest challenge so far to the dominant PD, but stopped at 43.6% and was defeated, while the League's list obtained 32.0%.

Popular support

Lega Nord is usually stronger in the outer provinces, both in

and

. In the 2019–2020 elections (

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

and Regional Council, respectively) it did better in the provinces of

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

(45.3% and 44.0%),

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

(38.8% and 36.5%),

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

(41.9% and 41.9%) and

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

(36.5% and 34.5%). The combined electoral results of Lega Nord Emilia and Lega Nord Romagna in

are shown in the tables below.

Leadership

*Secretary:

(1989–1990), Fabio Dosi (1990–1995), Pierluigi Copercini (1995–1996), Maurizio Parma (1996–2002),

(2002–2012),

(2012–2015), Gianluca Vinci (2015–2020), Andrea Ostellari (commissioner, 2020–2022),

(commissioner, 2022–present) *President: Pierluigi Copercini (1991–1995), Gianni Bettelli (1996–1999), Genesio Ferrari (1999–2002), Villiam Pellacani (2002–2006),

(2006–2012), Manes Bernardini (2012–2014), Pietro Pisani (2014–2015), Giovanni Tombolato (2016–2020)

External links

Official website

References

{{Lega Nord Political parties in Emilia-Romagna Political parties established in 1989 Federalist parties in Italy Lega Nord 1989 establishments in Italy