The Sardinian Action Party ( sc, Partidu Sardu, it, Partito Sardo d'Azione, PSd'Az or PSdA) is a Sardinian nationalist, regionalist and

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

political party in Sardinia. While being traditionally part of the Sardinian centre-left, the party has also sided with the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party. Despite ...

and, more recently, with the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. The PSd'Az is one of the oldest

stateless nation A stateless nation is an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own state''Dictionary Of Public Administration'', U.C. Mandal, Sarup & Sons 2007, 505 p. and is not the majority population in any nation state. The term "stateless" impli ...

alist parties active in Europe that promotes autonomy towards the ideal of independence. As such, the party was a founding member of the

European Free Alliance The European Free Alliance (EFA) is a European political party that consists of various regionalist, separatist and ethnic minority political parties in Europe. Member parties advocate either for full political independence and sovereignty, ...

in 1984, but was expelled in 2020 because of its alliance with the League.

Christian Solinas Christian Solinas (born 2 December 1976) is an Italian politician, leader of the Sardinian Action Party and President of Sardinia. Biography Born in Cagliari, Solinas has been a long-time member of the Sardinian Action Party and has been regiona ...

, who has led the party since 2015, was elected senator in the 2018 general election and

President of Sardinia This is the list of presidents of Sardinia since 1949. ;Elected by the Regional Council (1949–1994) ;Directly-elected presidents (since 1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:Presidents of Sardinia * Politics of Sardinia Government of Sardinia Sar ...

in the 2019 regional election, the first Sardist to do so since

Mario Melis is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

in 1984–1989.

History

The party was founded in April 1921, but soon banned under fascism, and was re-organized after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Emilio Lussu Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was an Italian soldier, politician, anti-fascist and writer. Biography The soldier Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari (Sardinia) and graduated with a degree in law in 1914. Lussu ma ...

, secretary for

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

of the Action Party during the war, and other

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

s from the Sassari brigade and anti-fascists, a social-democratic group of the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

. Lussu left the party in 1948 to found the short-lived Sardinian Socialist Action Party (PSd'AzS), which joined the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

in 1949, along with many other PSd'Az members. Consequently, the PSd'Az started to cooperate with

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

and was quite a stable until the 1980s. The PSd'Az and the PSd'AzS won 10.5% and 6.6% respectively in the first regional election in 1949. After a decline in term of votes in the 1960s and 1970s, the party re-gained strength in the 1980s (13.8% in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and 12.4% in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

). Following these results, Sardist

was

between 1984 and 1989 at the head of a five-party coalition composed also by the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

, the Italian Socialist Party, the

Italian Democratic Socialist Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an im ...

and the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy. The PRI has old roots and a long histo ...

. This was the highest point in party history: the PSd'Az was represented in the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...

from 1983 to 1994, and Melis was a MEP for the Rainbow Group from 1989 to 1994. The party was affiliated to The Olive Tree during the 1996 general election. However, the party congress rejected a continuation of the alliance ahead the 2001 general election. In the

2004 Sardinian regional election The Sardinian regional election of 2004 took place on 12–13 June 2004. The center-left businessman Renato Soru was elected President of the Region defeating Mauro Pili, who won the 1999 election but served as President just for two years betwee ...

the PSd'Az won 3.9% of the vote and 2 regional councillors. In the 2006 general election leader Giacomo Sanna, due to an electoral pact named Pact for the Autonomies, was a candidate of the Northern League (LN) for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, but failed to get elected. The party ran by itself in the 2008 general election, winning a mere 1.5% in the Region. In the 2009 regional election the PSd'Az joined the

, provoking the split of the party's left that formed the

Red Moors Red Moors ( it, Rossomori, RM) is a regionalist (separatist), social-democratic political party in Sardinia. The party was founded in 2009 as a left-wing split from the Sardinian Action Party (Psd'Az), after the Psd'Az had signed an electoral p ...

. Cappellacci won and the PSd'Az won 4.3% of the vote (having its strongholds in the traditionally left-wing Provinces of Nuoro and

Carbonia-Iglesias The province of Carbonia-Iglesias (, ) was a provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous region of Sardinia, Italy. It included the historical area of Sulcis-Iglesiente and it was the smallest province of Sardinia. It is bordered by the provinces ...

, where it gained 7.5 and 7.1%, respectively) and four regional councillors plus one (Giacomo Sanna) elected in Cappellacci's regional list. The Red Moors won 2.5% and one councillor. In the 2010 provincial elections the party was strongest in

Nuoro Nuoro ( or less correctly ; sc, Nùgoro ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of the Monte Ortobene. It is the capital of the province of Nuoro. With a population of 36,347 (2011), ...

(12.8%),

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

(6.9%), Olbia-Tempio (6.7%) and

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

(6.4%). In 2013 the PSd'Az broke with Cappellacci and the centre-right, but re-joined the coalition in time for the 2014 regional election. In the election Cappellacci was defeated and the PSd'Az won 4.7% of the vote and two regional councillors. In the run-up of the 2018 general election the party formed once again an electoral pact with the Northern League, which presented itself as "League" all around the country. The alliance managed to get 10.8% of the vote and

, leader of the PSd'Az, was elected to the Senate, while Guido De Martini, a local activist of the League, was elected to the Chamber. This marked the return of the PSd'Az to the Italian Parliament after 22 years. In August 2018 the party was suspended from the

because of its alliance with the League. In the 2019 regional election Solinas was elected

with 47.8% of the vote, while the PSd'Az won 9.9%.

Popular support

The party has failed to regain the electoral support it enjoyed upon its foundation (e.g. 36% of the popular vote in 1921 general election).Hepburn, E. (2009)
Explaining Failure: the Highs and Lows of Sardinian Nationalism
, Regional & Federal Studies, 19(4/5) The party has been mostly marginal in the Sardinan political scene since the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

period and this marginalisation has increased with the Italian establishment of a bipolar political system in the 1990s. The electoral results of the PSd'Az in regional and Chamber of Deputies elections in Sardinia since 1946 are shown in the chart below. For 1953 only the regional election's result is shown. In the general elections of 1972, 1976, 1979 and 2006 the party did not run lists for the Chamber of Deputies.

Electoral results

Regional Council of Sardinia

Italian Parliament

European Parliament

Leadership

*Secretary:

Camillo Bellieni Camillo is an Italian masculine given name, descended from Latin Camillus. Its Slavic cognate is Kamil. People with the name include: *Camillo Agrippa, Italian Renaissance fencer, architect, engineer and mathematician *Camillo Almici (1714–17 ...

(1921–1922), Paolo Pili (1922), Luigi Oggiano (1922–1923), Salvatore Sale (1923–1925), Ugo Pais (1925–1926), Luigi Battista Puggioni (1926–1945), Giovanni Battista Melis (1945–1948), Piero Soggiu (1948–1951), Giovanni Battista Melis (1951–1953), Pietro Mastino (1953–1957), Giovanni Battista Melis (1957–1974),

Michele Columbu Michele Columbu (8 February 1914 – 10 July 2012) was an Italian politician and writer from Ollolai, Sardinia. For decades, between World War II and the 1970s he was the leader of the Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az), a Sardinian nationalist p ...

(1974–1979), Carlo Sanna (1979–1990), Efisio Pilleri (1990–1991), Giorgio Ladu (1991–1992), Italo Ortu (1992–1994), Giancarlo Acciaro (1994), Cecilia Contu (1994–1995), Lorenzo Palermo (1995–1997), Antonio Delitala (1997–1999), Giacomo Sanna (2000–2006), Efisio Trincas (2006–2009), Giovanni Colli (2009–2014), Giovanni Columbu (2015),

(2015–present) *President: unknown (1921–unknown),

Franco Meloni Franco Meloni is a former Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, ...

(unknown–2000), Lorenzo Palermo (2000–2004), Silvano Cadoni (2004–2006), Giacomo Sanna (2006–2015), Giovanni Columbu (2015–2017),

Antonio Moro Anthonis Mor, also known as Anthonis Mor van Dashorst and Antonio Moro (c. 1517 – 1577), was a Netherlandish portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has also been referred to as Antoon, Anthonius, Anthonis or Mor van Dashor ...

(2018–present)

Symbols

Partito Sardo d'Azione logo.png, Official logo Sardinian Action Party.png, Electoral logo

References

External links

* {{Authority control Political parties in Sardinia Social democratic parties in Italy Political parties established in 1921 European Free Alliance Sardinian nationalist parties Radical parties in Italy 1921 establishments in Italy