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 nationalist 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 in 1984, but was expelled in 2020 because of its alliance with the League. Christian Solinas, who has led the party since 2015, was elected senator in the 2018 general election and President of Sardinia in the 2019 regional election, the first Sardist to do so since Mario Melis 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 m ...

, 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 pe ...

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 h ...

s from the

Sassari brigade 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, ...

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 Socia ...

. 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 189 ...

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 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 Mario Melis was President of Sardinia between 1984 and 1989 at the head of a five-party coalition composed also by the Italian Communist Party, 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 imp ...

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 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 PSd'Az won 3.9% of the vote and 2 regional councillors. In the 2006 general election leader

Giacomo Sanna 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 Americ ...

, due to an electoral pact named Pact for the Autonomies, was a candidate of the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

(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 ...

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, 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. 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, 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 (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 Christian Solinas, 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 European Free Alliance because of its alliance with the League. In the 2019 regional election Solinas was elected President of Sardinia 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 ...

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 (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 (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),

(2000–2006), Efisio Trincas (2006–2009), Giovanni Colli (2009–2014), Giovanni Columbu (2015), Christian Solinas (2015–present) *President: unknown (1921–unknown), Franco Meloni (unknown–2000), Lorenzo Palermo (2000–2004), Silvano Cadoni (2004–2006),

(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