Aosta Valley (political coalition)

Aosta Valley (Vallée d'Aoste, VdA) is a regionalist coalition of parties active in Aosta Valley, Italy.

Vallée d'Aoste or Pour la Vallée d'Aoste are the banners under which the Valdostan Union (UV), the main regionalist party in the region, takes part to Italian general elections, along with its minor allies.

Since 1983 the list has won most of the races for both houses of the Italian Parliament (see Parliamentary delegations from Aosta Valley). Typical allies of UV within VdA had been the Popular Democrats (PD) and the Progressive Democratic Autonomists (ADP). Since 2006 the list, which at times took the name Autonomy Progress Federalism Aosta Valley (Vallée d'Aoste Autonomie Progrès Fédéralisme, VdA–APF), has become a stable coalition in regional politics and was composed also by Edelweiss (SA) and the Autonomist Federation (FA)^[1] until the latter folded after the 2013 regional election.

Recent history

In the 2006 general election an alternative, centre-left coalition called Autonomy Liberty Democracy (ALD) was formed as Valdostan Renewal (RV), a split from UV, joined forces with the Democrats with the Left (DS) and other minor parties. For the first time in twenty years, VdA was soundly defeated in both races for the Italian Parliament. In the election for the Chamber of Deputies Marco Viérin (SA, VdA) lost 43.4% to 30.7% to Roberto Nicco (DS, ALD),^[2] while in the Senate race incumbent senator Augusto Rollandin (UV, VdA) was defeated 44.2% to 32.0% by Carlo Perrin (RV, ALD).^[3]

UV, SA and FA presented again the list, simply named Vallée d'Aoste, in the 2008 general election. Antonio Fosson (UV, VdA) defeated incumbent senator Carlo Perrin 41.4% to 37.4%,^[4] while Ego Perron (UV, VdA) was narrowly defeated by incumbent deputy Roberto Nicco 39.1% to 37.8%.^[5] After two years of absence, the coalition made thus its return to the Italian Parliament.

Under a new electoral law, which included coalitions and a majority premium for the winning coalition, VdA ran together also in the 2008 regional election, gaining 62% of the vote and a stable majority in the Regional Council.^[6]

In the 2013 general election VdA elected both MPs from Aosta Valley: Albert Lanièce (UV, VdA) defeated Patrizia Morelli (ALPE, ALD) 37.0% to 30.8% for the Senate,^[7] while Rudi Marguerettaz (SA, VdA) defeated both Jean Pierre Guichardaz (PD, ALD) and Laurent Viérin (UVP).^[8]

In the 2013 regional election the coalition won 47.9% of the vote and narrowly retained its absolute majority in the Regional Council.^[9] Only UV and SA obtained elects, and FA folded soon after the election and most of its members joined UV, through a short-lived party named "Create VdA".^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

In July 2015 the regional government, led by Augusto Rollandin since 2008 (Rollandin had been President of Aosta Valley in 1984–1990), was enlarged to the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).^[15] In June 2016, after months of negotiations, the government was joined also by the Progressive Valdostan Union (UVP),^[16][17] a splinter group from UV, which was then headed toward a full-scope réunion with the mother party. The future of the VdA coalition, which still includes SA, looks thus uncertain.

Members parties

In 2016 the coalition is formed by the current parties:

Electoral results

Regional Council

Regional Council of Aosta Valley
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–
1983	28,386	37.5	13 / 35	–
1988	35,627	45.2	16 / 35	4
1993	35,559	43.8	15 / 35	1
1998	33,311	42.6	17 / 35	2
2003	50,114	67.0	25 / 35	8
2008	44,520	62.0	23 / 35	2
2013	34,517	47.9	18 / 35	5

References

External links

• Official website