Lega Nord Alto Adige/Südtirol

Lega Nord Alto Adige/Südtirol
Secretary	Maurizio Fugatti (federal commissioner)
President	vacant
Founded	1991
Ideology	Federalism Regionalism
National affiliation	Lega Nord
European affiliation	none
International affiliation	none
Website
http://www.bz.leganord.org/
Politics of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Political parties Elections

Lega Nord Alto Adige/Südtirol (English: Northern League Alto Adige/South Tyrol, LNST) is a regionalist political party, which is the "national" (hence, provincial) section of Lega Nord in South Tyrol, Italy.

Along with the Greens, the LNST is an inter-ethnic party.^[1]

Recent history

In the 2008 provincial election, as always, LNST presented a list with both Italian- and German-speaking candidates. In the run-up to the election the party was joined by Roland Atz, former Vice President of the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Region and leading member of the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), Elena Artioli, another SVP splinter and one of the few multilingual members of that party before it restricted its membership to German- and Ladin-speakers, and Paolo Bassani, a centrist politician who had been previously member of the Italian Liberal Party, Forza Italia and finally the Italian Republican Party.^[2][3] This strategy, designed by Roberto Calderoli,^[4][5] prompted Kurt Pancheri to resign from national secretary.^[2][6] In the election LNST won the 2.1% of the vote and Artioli was elected to the Provincial Council.^[7]

In January 2013 Artioli was elected national secretary of the party, ending five years of transitional leadership provided by the federal party.^[8] In May she announced that the party would run in the 2013 provincial election as part of the Team Autonomies/Team Artioli (Team A), a larger autonomist and inter-ethnic electoral list inspired to the Austrian Team Stronach.^[9] Later, in September, the Team A was integrated into the "Forza Alto Adige–Lega Nord–Team Autonomies" list, along with The People of Freedom.^[10][11] In the October election the list took 2.5% of the vote.^[12] Artioli was the only candidate elected.^[13] In January 2014, at the very beginning of the Council term, Artioli voted in favour of SVP's Arno Kompatscher in a vote of confindence,^[14] consequently left Lega Nord^[15] and joined the Democratic Party.^[16]

In the run-up of the 2014 European Parliament election Lega Nord formed a pact with Die Freiheitlichen (dF), according to which the dF's symbol and candidates were included in the party's slates.^[17][18] In the 2015 municipal election in Bolzano the LNST supported Carlo Vettori, who had joined the party just two years before and styled himself as a strong supporter of the party's "inter-ethnic" identity,^[19] for mayor and gained 11.0% of the vote.^[20] In Laives the LNST candidate Christian Bianchi was elected mayor with the support of the SVP and the Five Star Movement (M5S).^[21][22] The new course and, especially, Artioli's exit brought Pancheri back into the party's fold.^[23] Bolzano returned to vote in 2016: the LNST, that tried to forge an alliance with the SVP^[24] and finally supported a joint centre-right candidate, was reduced to 9.0%.^[25]

Ideology

LNST presents itself as a party "inspired by the principles of Christianity", representing South Tyroleans, regardless their language or ethnicity, including multilingual people. In fact, according to its program, the main goals of the party is to enhance the collaboration and the interaction of the three language groups (Italian, German and Ladin) and to legally recognize the reality of multilingual people (i.e. citizens who identify with two linguistic identities). The party professes also a libertarian credo and one of its slogans is "less Province, more private", while emphasizing family, education and health-care issues.^[26][27]

Popular support

The party is a tiny one compared to other "national sections" of Lega Nord.

In the 2008 general election it won a mere 2.0% of the votes in South Tyrol, due to the electoral strength of German-speaking regionalist parties, notably the South Tyrolean People's Party, Citizens' Union for South Tyrol and Die Freiheitlichen. Its counterpart in Trentino, Lega Nord Trentino, was much stronger (16.4% in 2008). In the 2009 European Parliament election LNST however gained 4.8%, its best result ever in the Province.

The electoral results of Lega Nord ST in the Province of Bolzano are shown in the table below.

Leadership

• National Secretary: Umberto Montefiori (1991–1998), Kurt Pancheri (1999–2008), Sergio Divina (federal commissioner, 2008–2010), Maurizio Bosatra (federal commissioner, 2010–2012), Matteo Bragantini (federal commissioner, 2012–2013), Elena Artioli (2013–2014), Maurizio Fugatti (federal commissioner, 2014–present)
• National President: unknown (1991–1999), Sergio Tamajo (1999–2008), Andrea Gallo (2013–2014)

External links

• Official website

References

Political parties in South Tyrol
Parties with seats in Landtag (Bolzano provincial council)	South Tyrolean People's Party (17) Die Freiheitlichen (6) Greens (3) South Tyrolean Freedom (3) Democratic Party (2) Lega Nord Alto Adige/Südtirol (1) Five Star Movement (1) Citizens' Union for South Tyrol (1) Alto Adige in the Heart (1)
Politics of South Tyrol List of political parties in South Tyrol