The Leonese People's Union ( es, Unión del Pueblo Leonés, links=, Leonese: ''Unión del Pueblu Llionés'', UPL) is a regional

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 ...

Castilla y León Castile, Castille or Castilla may refer to: Places Spain *Castile (historical region), a vaguely defined historical region of Spain covering most of Castile and León, all of the Community of Madrid and most of Castilla–La Mancha *Kingdom of ...

, Spain. UPL strives to establish a separate autonomous community ( Comunidad Autónoma de León or ''Autonomous Community of León'') for the provinces of León, Zamora and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

(center of the old

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...

), now in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León. Such a movement is known as

Leonesism Leonesism (; es, Leonesismo) is a social and political Regionalism (politics), regionalist movement in the geographical Region of León, composed by the Provinces of Spain, provinces of Province of León, León, Province of Zamora, Zamora and ...

History

UPL was founded in 1986 by a group of people coming from different León regionalist movements and various statewide parties ( Popular Alliance, Union of the Democratic Centre,

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

). Initially it was known as Leonesist Union (''Unión Leonesista'', UNLE). It adopted its current name in 1991, when José María Rodríguez de Francisco took over the leadership of the party. In the municipality of León the party obtained three seats in the municipal council. It also won one seat in the provincial council. In the municipal elections in 2007, UPL obtained 10.88% and three seats in the municipal council of León. In the Castile and León autonomous elections the same year, it obtained 2.69% of the votes and two seats over 83. Its youth branch was

Conceyu Xoven Conceyu Xoven ("Young Council" in Leonese) was a Spanish political youth organization that demanded the self-determination of the proposed Leonese Country. It was affiliated with the Leonese People's Union as its youth wing until April 2010, when ...

, an organization that promotes official status for the

Leonese language Leonese ( ast-leo, Llionés, ast, Lleonés) is a set of vernacular Romance language varieties currently spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León in Spain (the modern provinces of León, Zamora, and Sala ...

and the unity and self-determination for the Leonese Country. Conceyu Xoven was expelled from the party due to its radical positions, with the Leonist Youth being designated the new youth wing of UPL.

Electoral performance

Cortes of Castile and León The Cortes of Castile and León (Spanish: ''Cortes de Castilla y León'') is the elected unicameral legislature of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León. The tradition of the regional Cortes is traced back to the Royal Council (Latin: ' ...

References

Notes

External links