Lega Nord

In agreement with the PdL,[63] Luca Zaia was candidate for President in Veneto^[64] and Roberto Cota in Piedmont^[65] in the 2010 regional elections while in the other Northern regions, including Lombardy, the League supported candidates of the PdL. Both Zaia and Cota were elected. The party became the largest in Veneto with 35.2% and the second-largest in Lombardy with 26.2% while getting stronger all around the North and in some regions of central Italy.

In November 2011, Berlusconi resigned and was replaced by

From Bossi to Maroni

This section contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (June 2022)

Throughout 2011, the party was riven in internal disputes, which Bossi's weak-as-ever leadership was not able to stop. Roberto Maroni, a moderate figure who had been the party's number two since the start, was clearly Bossi's most likely successor. The rise of Maroni and his fellow maroniani was obstacled by a group of Bossi's loyalists, whom journalists called the "magic circle". The leaders of this group were Marco Reguzzoni (floor leader in the Chamber of Deputies) and Rosi Mauro.

After being temporarily forbidden from speaking at the party's public meetings,^[66] Maroni gained the upper hand in January 2012.^[67] During a factional rally in Varese, he launched direct attacks on Reguzzoni and Mauro in the presence of a puzzled Bossi. On that occasion, Maroni called for the celebration of party congresses and closed his speech paraphrasing Scipio Slataper and Che Guevara (the latter being one of his youth's heroes): "We are barbarians, dreaming barbarians. We are realistic, we dream the impossible".^[68] On 20 January, Bossi replaced Reguzzoni as leader in the Chamber with Gianpaolo Dozzo.^[69] Two days later, the federal council of the party scheduled provincial congresses by April and national (regional) congresses by June.^[70] Maroni, whose flock included people as diverse as Flavio Tosi, a conservative liberal; and Matteo Salvini, then a left-winger,^[71][72] strengthened his grip on the party.

On 3 April, a corruption scandal hit the magic circle and consequently the entire party. The party's treasurer Francesco Belsito was charged with money-laundering, embezzlement and fraud of the LN's expenses. Among other things, he was accused of having taken money away from the party's chest and paid it out to Bossi's family and other members of the magic circle, notably including Mauro.^[73] Maroni, who had already called for Belsito's resignation as early as in January, asked for his immediate replacement. Belsito resigned a few hours later and was replaced by Stefano Stefani.^[74][75]

More shockingly, on 5 April, Bossi resigned as the federal secretary. The party's federal council then appointed a triumvirate composed of Maroni, Calderoli and Manuela Dal Lago, who would lead the party until a new federal congress was held. Bossi, however, was then elected the federal president.^[75] On 12 April, the federal council expelled both Belsito and Mauro and decided that a federal congress would be held at the end of June.^[76] In the 6–7 May local elections, the League was crushed almost everywhere^[77] while retaining the city of Verona, where Tosi, the incumbent mayor, was re-elected by a landslide;^[78] and a few other strongholds.

The Bossi–Belsito scandal finally resulted, on 7 August 2019, in a sentence by Italy's highest court, according to which the LN was to pay back 49 million euros.^[79]

Leadership of Maroni

At the beginning of June, after having secured the leadership of several national sections of the party, Maroni and his followers scored two big victories at the congresses of the two largest "nations", Lombardy and Veneto: Matteo Salvini was elected secretary of Lega Lombarda with 74% of the votes^[80] while Flavio Tosi fended off a challenge by the Venetists' and Bossi's loyalists' standard-bearer Massimo Bitonci, defeating him 57%–43%.^[81]

On 1 July, Maroni was virtually unanimously elected federal secretary. The party's constitution was changed in order to make Bossi federal president for life, to restructure the federal organisation and to give more autonomy to the national sections, in fact transforming the federation into a confederation.^[82][83]

At the 2013 general election, which saw the rise of the Five Star Movement (M5S), the League won a mere 4.1% of the vote (−4.2pp).^[84] However, in the simultaneous 2013 regional election in Lombardy the party won the big prize: Maroni was elected President by defeating his Democratic opponent 42.8% to 38.2%. The League, which retrieved 12.9% in Lombardy in the general election, garnered 23.2% (combined result of party list, 13.0% and Maroni's personal list, 10.2%) in the regional election.^[85] All three big regions of the North were thus governed by the League.

In September 2013, Maroni announced he would soon leave the party's leadership.^[86][87] A congress was scheduled for mid December and in accordance to the new rules set for the leadership election five candidates filed their bid to become secretary: Umberto Bossi, Matteo Salvini, Giacomo Stucchi, Manes Bernardini and Roberto Stefanazzi.^[88] Of these, only Bossi and Salvini gathered the 1,000 necessary signatures by party members to take part to the internal "primary" and Salvini collected four times the signatures gathered by Bossi.^[89]

Leadership of Salvini

On 7 December, Salvini, endorsed by Maroni and most leading members (including Tosi, who had renounced a bid of his own), trounced Bossi with 82% of the vote in the "primary".

In the European election, the party, which ran on a "Stop the Euro" ticket, emphasised Euroscepticism and welcomed candidates from other anti-Euro and/or autonomist movements, notably including South Tyrol's Freiheitlichen,^{[100][101][102]} obtained 6.2% of the vote and five MEPs.^[103] The result was far worse than that of the previous European election in 2009 (−4.0pp), but better than that of 2013 general election (+2.1pp). The LN came third with 15.2% in Veneto (where Tosi obtained many more votes than Salvini, showing his popular support once for all and proving how the party was far from united on the anti-Euro stance),^[104] ahead of the new Forza Italia (FI) and the other PdL's spin-offs; and fourth in Lombardy with 14.6%. Salvini was triumphant, despite the party had lost Piedmont to the Democrats after Cota had been forced to resign due to irregularities committed by one of its supporting lists in filing the slates for the 2010 election and had decided not to stand. Moreover, Bitonci was elected mayor of Padua, a centre-left stronghold.

The party's federal congress, summoned in Padua in July 2014, approved Salvini's political line, especially a plan for the introduction of a

In March 2015, after a long struggle between Tosi and Zaia, who was backed by Salvini, over the party's candidates in the upcoming regional election in Veneto, Tosi was removed from national secretary of Liga Veneta and ejected from the federal party altogether.^[107] However, the 2015 regional elections were another success for the LN, especially in Veneto, where Zaia was handily re-elected with 50.1% of the vote (Tosi got 11.9%) and the combined score of party's and Zaia's personal lists was 40.9%. The party also came second in Liguria (22.3%) and Tuscany (16.2%), third in Marche (13.0%) and Umbria (14.0%).

After the 2016 local elections in which the party ran below expectations in Lombardy (while doing well in Veneto—thanks to Zaia, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany) and the NcS performed badly,^{[108][109][110][111]} Salvini's political line came under pressure from Bossi, Maroni and Paolo Grimoldi, the new leader of Lega Lombarda. In the 2017 leadership election, Salvini, who was focused on becoming the leader of the centre-right^[112][113] and possibly changing the LN's name by ditching the word "North",^{[114][115][116]} was re-elected leader of the party with 82.7% of the vote against his opponent Gianni Fava's 17.3%.^[117] Consequently, Salvini launched his campaign to become Prime Minister.

In the meantime, the LN campaigned heavily for Veneto's and Lombardy's autonomy referendums, which took place on 22 October. In Veneto, the turnout was 57.2% and those who voted "yes" reached 98.1% whereas in Lombardy the figures were 38.3% and 95.3%.^{[118][119][120]} When the referendums were over, with strong opposition by Bossi, Salvini persuaded the party's federal council to style the party simply as "Lega", including NcS, in the upcoming general election.^{[121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128]} Additionally, Salvini toned down his stances against the European Union and the Euro in order to make an alliance with FI possible.^[129][130]

Despite misgivings by Bossi and the Padanist old guard, the party still had a strong autonomist outlook in the northern regions,^[131] especially in Veneto where Venetian nationalism was stronger than ever before.^{[132][133][134]} Additionally, the League maintained its power base in the North, where it continued to get most of its support.

Yellow-green coalition

The League ran in the 2018 general election within the four-party centre-right coalition, also composed of FI, Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Us with Italy (NcI), which formed a joint list with the Union of the Centre (UdC). In a further effort to broaden its base, the League welcomed in its electoral slates several independents, notably including Giulia Bongiorno^[135] and Alberto Bagnai,^[136] as well as a wide range of minor parties, including the Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az),^[137] the Italian Liberal Party (PLI)^[138] and the National Movement for Sovereignty (MNS).^[139] The League obtained a resounding success, becoming the third largest party in Italy with 17.4% of the vote (+13.3pp). The ticket won most of its votes in the North (including 32.2% in Veneto, 28.0% in Lombardy, 26.7% in Trentino, 25.8% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and 22.6% in Piedmont) while making inroads elsewhere, especially in central Italy (notably 20.2% in Umbria), the upper part of the South (13.8% in Abruzzo) and Sardinia (10.8%).

In the simultaneous regional election in Lombardy, LN's Attilio Fontana ran for President after Maroni, increasingly critical of Salvini,^[140][141] chose not to run for a second term and step aside from politics.^[142] Fontana was elected with 49.8% of the vote and the party scored 29.4%. In late April in the regional election in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, LN's Massimiliano Fedriga was elected with 57.1% of the vote and the party scored 34.9%.

As neither of the three main groupings (the centre-right, the PD-led centre-left and the M5S) obtained a majority of seats in Parliament, the League entered in coalition talks with the M5S which was the most voted party with 32.7% of the vote. The talks resulted in the proposal of the so-called "government of change" under the leadership of Giuseppe Conte, a law professor close to the M5S.^[143] After some bickering with President Sergio Mattarella,^[144][145] Conte's government, which was dubbed by the media as Western European "first all-populist government", was sworn in on 1 June. The cabinet featured Salvini as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Giancarlo Giorgetti as Secretary of the Council and four other League members (plus an independent close to the party) as ministers.^[146]

During 2019, along with the LN's membership recruitment in the Centre-North, the party launched a parallel drive in the Centre-South for the LSP,^[147] practically supplanting NcS. It was a sign that the LSP, whose party constitution had been published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale in December 2017^[148] and had been described as a "parallel party",^[149][150] might eventually replace both the LN and NcS. In the meantime, the parties' joint parliamentary groups were named "League–Salvini Premier" in the Chamber^[151] and "League–Salvini Premier–Sardinian Action Party" in the Senate.^[152] According to some news sources, Salvini wanted to launch a brand-new party and absorb most of the centre-right parties into it.^{[153][154][155]}

Since the government's formation, the party was regularly the country's largest party in opinion polls, at around or over 30%. The party's strength was confirmed in October by the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol provincial elections: in Trentino LN's Maurizio Fugatti was elected President with 46.7% of the vote and the party scored 27.1% (despite competition from several autonomist parties), while in South Tyrol it came third with 11.1% (being the most voted in Bolzano and, more generally, among Italian-speakers), leading it to replace the PD as junior partner of the South Tyrolean People's Party in the provincial government coalition.^[156]

In the

The first election after the formation of Conte's second government was the 2019 Umbrian regional election. In a traditional stronghold of the centre-left, the League won 37.0% of the vote and its candidate Donatella Tesei was elected President with 57.6% of the vote and a 20% lead over Vincenzo Bianconi, who was the candidate of a joint list of centre-left and M5S.^[181]

2019 federal congress

During a federal congress on 21 December 2019, the party's constitution undwerwent some major changes, including reduced powers for the federal president, the extension of the federal secretary's and federal council's terms from three to five years, the introduction of "dual membership" and the faculty given to the federal council to grant the use of the party's symbol to other political movements.^[182] With the end of its membership drive in August 2020, the LSP, until then present only in central-southern Italy, became active throughout Italy. The LN, unable to be dissolved because of its burden of €49 million debt to the Italian state, was instead formally kept alive, while its cards were donated to former activists.^[183][184]

Ideology

The party's ideology is a combination of political federalism, fiscal federalism, regionalism and defense of northern Italian traditions. The historical goal of the party is to transform Italy into a federated state, letting Padania keep more tax revenues collected there under a regime of fiscal federalism. Through Lega Nord, federalism has become a major issue in the country. This is also the main difference between the Lega Nord and most European regionalist parties (South Tyrolean People's Party,^[185] Basque Nationalist Party, Republican Left of Catalonia, Scottish National Party, Vlaams Belang and the like), which focus on special rights for their own regions.^{[186][187][188]}

The original programme of the party identified "federalist libertarianism" as ideology.

Lega Nord has long maintained an anti-southern Italian stance. Party members have been known to oppose large-scale southern Italian migration to northern Italian cities, stereotyping southern Italians as welfare abusers, criminals and detrimental to Northern society. Party members have often attributed Italy's economic stagnation and the disparity of the North-South divide in the Italian economy to supposed negative characteristics of the southern Italians, such as lack of education, laziness, or criminality.^{[201][202][203][204]} Some LN members have been known to publicly deploy the offensive slur terrone ("earthling", "mulatto"), a common pejorative term for southern Italians.^{[201][202][205]}

At times, it has seemed possible that the League might unite with similar leagues in

Lega Nord aims at uniting all those northern Italians who support autonomy and federalism for their land. For this reason, it has tended to be a multi-ideological catch-all party, especially at its beginnings,^[207][208] following what Bossi stated in 1982 to his early followers: "It does not matter how old are you, what your job is and what your political tendency: what matters is that you and we are all Lombard. [...] It is as Lombards, indeed, that we have a fundamental common goal in face of which our division in parties should fall behind".^[209] Roberto Biorcio, a political scientist, wrote: "The political commitment of Umberto Bossi was influenced by his encounter with Bruno Salvadori, leader of the Valdostan Union [...]. The convictions of Salvadori on federalism, the self-determination of the peoples (the so-called nations without state) and the belonging to a people on the basis of cultural criteria and not on blood, were adopted by the future leader of the League".^[210]

Since the beginning the electorate of the party has been very diverse on a left-right scale. At the 1992 general election, for instance, 25.4% of the party supporters were former Christian Democratic voters, 18.5% Communists, 12.5% Socialists and 6.6% former voters of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement.^[211] According to a 1996 Abacus poll, 28.7% of LN voters identified as centrist, 26.3% as right-wingers and 22.1% as left-wingers.^[212]

It is quite difficult to define it in the left-right spectrum because it is variously conservative, centrist and left-wing with regard to different issues. For example, the party supports both liberal ideas such as deregulation and social-democratic positions such as the defense of workers' wages and pensions. This is because Lega Nord, as a "people's party" representing the North as a whole, includes both liberal-conservative and social-democratic factions.^{[213][citation needed]} As Lega Nord, the party could be seen as a cross-class entity uniting northern Italians, whether working class or petit bourgeois, around a sense of opposition to both the powerful forces of capital and a centralising state based in Rome which redistributes resources towards southern Italy.^[214]

Generally speaking, the party supports the

According to many observers, under Matteo Salvini the party lurched to the right, but both Salvini, a former communist; and Luca Zaia insist the party is "neither right nor left"^[229][230] while Roberto Maroni, another former leftist, stated that "we are a big political movement which has in its platform issues and people of right and left".^[231]

Platform and policies

The party usually takes a socially conservative stance on social issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, medical embryonic stem cell research, artificial insemination, same-sex marriage (although there is an association called Los Padania, where "Los" stands for "free sexual orientation", linked to the party and Lega Nord was once in favour of same-sex marriage)^[232] and drug use (although it did once support the legalization of marijuana along with Marco Pannella's Radicals).^{[citation needed]} Despite this, the party has been home to some social liberals, namely Giancarlo Pagliarini, Rossana Boldi, Giovanna Bianchi Clerici^[233] and to some extent Roberto Castelli.

The party has often espoused criticism of Islam^[234] and has styled itself as a defender of "Judeo-Christian values". In 2018 the party made a proposal to make it mandatory for crucifixes to be displayed in all public spaces, including ports, schools, embassies and prisons, with fines of up to €1,000 for failing to comply.^{[235][236][237]}

Lega Nord has long opposed

In its political programme, the party is committed to the environment, supporting public green areas, the establishment of natural parks, recycling and the end (or regulation) of the construction of sheds in country areas, especially in Veneto.^[246][247] Lega Nord, which has a strong agricultural wing, also supports the protection of traditional food, opposes GMOs and has campaigned for a revision of the quota system of the Common Agricultural Policy.^[241][246]

In foreign policy, the League has never had a particularly pro-United States stance, although it admires the

Through the Associazione Umanitaria Padana, Lega Nord participates in humanitarian projects which are intended to respect local cultures, traditions and identities. The campaigns are carried out in poor countries or in those that have suffered from war or natural catastrophes. Locations of missions include Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ivory Coast.^[264] The association is led by Sara Fumagalli, wife of Roberto Castelli and born-again Catholic after a pilgrimage in Medjugorje.^[265][266]

Federalism vs. separatism

The exact program of Lega Nord was not clear in the early years as some opponents claimed it wanted secession of Padania while at other times it appeared to be requesting only autonomy for Northern regions. The League eventually settled on federalism, which rapidly became a buzzword and a popular issue in most Italian political parties.^[267][268]

By 1996, the party switched to open separatism, calling for the independence of Padania. The party's constitution was reformed accordingly and still proclaims at article 1 that the LN's fundamental goal is "the achievement of the independence of Padania, through democratic means, and its international recognition as independent and sovereign federal republic".^[269] A voluntary group of militants, the "Green Volunteers", often referred as "green shirts" (green being the colour of Padania), was also established, but it has since been active mainly in civil defense and emergency management. In September 1996 in Venice, the party unilaterally proclaimed the independence of Padania at which time while reading the Padanian Declaration of Independence Bossi announced:

We the peoples of Padania solemnly declare that Padania is an independent and sovereign federal republic. We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honour.^{[269][270][271]}

The renewed alliance with Berlusconi in 2001 forced the party to tone down its separatism and Padania became the name of a proposed "macro-region", based on the ideas of Miglio: the establishment an Italian federal republic, divided into three "macro-regions" ("Padania", "Etruria" and the "South") and some autonomous regions.^[187][188] A new buzzword, devolution (often used in English), was also introduced, but with less success than "federalism". This evolution caused some criticism within party ranks and led to the formation of some minor breakaway groups.^[272] Moreover, the peculiarity of the LN among European regionalist parties is that its main goal has long been the transformation of Italy into a federal state instead of simply demanding special rights and autonomy for Northern regions.^{[185][186][187][188]} Despite this, the party's constitution continues to declare that the independence of Padania is one of the party's final goal.^[269]

Euroscepticism vs. Europeanism

Lega Nord often criticises the

However, according to Roberto Maroni the party is not Eurosceptic and stands for a "new Europeanism". In a public speech in 2012, he said to party activists: "We should start looking at Padania in a Northern, European perspective. [...] The project of Padania is not anti-European, this is a new Europeanism which looks at the future: a Europe of the regions, a Europe of the peoples, a truly federal Europe".^[68] Moreover, under Maroni the party has supported the direct election of the President of the European Commission, more powers for the European Parliament, acceleration of the four unions (political, economic, banking and fiscal), Eurobonds and project bonds, the European Central Bank as lender of last resort and the "centrality of Italy in European politics".^[279]

Illegal immigration

The party takes a tough stance on crime,

Although several LN members speak strongly against illegal immigrants (Bossi suggested in 2003 opening fire on the boats of illegal immigrants from Africa, whom he described as bingo-bongos;[294] and Giancarlo Gentilini labeled foreigners as "immigrant slackers", saying that "we should dress them up like hares and bang-bang-bang"),^[295] the party's official line is more moderate. In a 2010 interview after some riots in Milan between South American and North African immigrants, Maroni, then Minister of the Interior, stated that "the police state is not the solution" to integration problems and calling for a "new model of integration" maintained that "we should think that, other than a permit of stay, a job and a house, there are further conditions that today are missing for integration to succeed".^[296] Bossi endorsed the position.^[297]

Lega Nord rejects all charges of xenophobia, instead claiming that the North is the victim of discrimination and racism.

The party has also been active in counter-jihad networks, and in 2016 signed the "Prague Declaration" as part of the Fortress Europe group alongside the Pegida movement and other groups against the "Islamic conquest of Europe".^[322][323]

Factions

Although there are almost no official factions within the party, it is possible to distinguish several tendencies or wings.

Regional and ideological divides

The wing from the province of Varese and more broadly the bulk of the original Lega Lombarda (including Umberto Bossi, Roberto Maroni and Marco Formentini) has tended to be the left-wing of the party while that from the province of Bergamo (notably Roberto Calderoli) has tended to be more conservative. In fact, both Bossi and Maroni hailed from the far-left of the political spectrum, having been active in the Italian Communist Party,^[324][325] il manifesto movement, the Party of Proletarian Unity, Proletarian Democracy and the Greens before starting Lega Lombarda;^[326][327] and conceived Lega Nord as a centre-left (and to some extent social-democratic) political force.^[35][328] From the left came also Marco Formentini, a long-time member of the left-wing of the Italian Socialist Party;^[329] and Rosi Mauro, a trade unionist of the metal workers' section of the Italian Labour Union and later leader of the Padanian Trade Union (SinPa).^[330]

Since its foundation, Liga Veneta was instead characterised as a liberal, centrist and economically libertarian outfit due to the political upbringing of its early leaders and a more conservative electoral base. In the early 1990s, the League took votes especially from the Communists and the Socialists in western and central Lombardy, while the party electorally replaced Christian Democracy in eastern Lombardy and Veneto.^[331][332]

Lega Lombarda also included liberal-conservative figures such as Gianfranco Miglio and Vito Gnutti, both former Christian Democrats, while Giovanni Meo Zilio, a Socialist partisan during the Italian Resistance, was one of the founding fathers of Liga Veneta.

In Emilia-Romagna, a left-wing heartland, the party has many former Communists in its ranks and many others have Communist upbringings.^{[333][334][335]} However, with the passing of time the party underwent a process of homogenisation.

Between Maroni and Calderoli, there has been a liberal centrist wing including Roberto Castelli, a conspicuous group of former Liberals (Manuela Dal Lago, Daniele Molgora, Francesco Speroni and more) and a new generation of leghisti (Roberto Cota, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Marco Reguzzoni, Luca Zaia and others).

Issue-oriented groups

The League is home also to some issue-oriented groups. First, there is a group of Christian democrats, most of whom are affiliated to the Padanian Catholics, founded by late Roberto Ronchi and currently led by Giuseppe Leoni. Another leading Catholic is Massimo Polledri.^[336] Many leghisti are committed to Catholic social teaching and the social market economy^[215] and several party members are former members or voters of Christian Democracy.^[211]

There is a

Third and fourth, the party has always included also a group of libertarians, whose leading members Leonardo Facco, Gilberto Oneto and Giancarlo Pagliarini have since left the party; and an Independentist Unit.^[337] The independentist wing crosses all the other factions and tendencies and in fact includes Borghezio and Francesco Speroni, among others. Oneto, father of Padanian nationalism; and Pagliarini were also close to this group.^[338][339]

Finally, the party is home to an agricultural wing, which is particularly strong in southern

In October 1997, Lega Nord organised what it called "the first elections to the Padanian Parliament". Roughly 4 million northern Italians (6 million according to the party) went to the polls and chose between a number of Padanian parties. This is a short resume of the affiliations of leading party members:[340]^{[341][342][343][344][345]}

• Marco Formentini, Giovanni Meo Zilio, Roberto Bernardelli, Franco Colleoni and Mariella Mazzetto, with the support of Roberto Maroni,^[346] launched the Europeanist and social-democratic European Democrats – Padanian Labour (52 seats out of 210);
• Vito Gnutti, Giancarlo Pagliarini, Domenico Comino, Roberto Cota and Massimo Zanello led the liberal-conservative Liberal Democrats – Forza Padania (50);
• Oreste Rossi, Enzo Flego and Walter Gherardini formed the national-conservative Padanian Right (27);
• Roberto Ronchi and Giuseppe Leoni founded the Christian democratic Padanian Catholics (20);
• A group of Venetian leghisti formed the Venetist Padanian Lions (14);
• Leonardo Facco, Leopoldo Siegel and Marco Pottino launched Libertarian and Liberal Padania (12);
• Matteo Salvini and Mauro Manfredini were candidates of the Padanian Communists (5);
• Erminio Boso led the agrarian conservative Padanian Union – Agriculture, Environment, Hunting, Fishing (5);
• Nando Dalla Chiesa, a Green
  MP, was an unsuccessful candidate in Milan too.

During the years in government in Rome (2001–2006), in the party there were different viewpoints on coalitions: some, led by Calderoli and Castelli (with the backing of Bossi), vigorously supported the alliance with the centre-right while others, represented by Maroni and Giorgetti, were less warm about it.[347]^[348][349] Some of them spoke about joining the centre-left some time after the 2006 general election, which they were certain to lose. This idea was ascribed to the fact that without any support from the left it seemed even more difficult to win the constitutional referendum which would have turned Italy into a federal state.^[350]

Similar differences emerged during (and within) Berlusconi's fourth government (2008–2011). While Calderoli was again a keen supporter of the arrangement, Maroni was far less warm on Berlusconi and at times evoked an alliance with the centre-left Democratic Party. Calderoli's line had the backing of Federico Bricolo, Cota, Reguzzoni and chiefly Bossi while Maroni was backed by Giorgetti, Speroni, Zaia and Tosi.^[351][352] However, the alliance with the centre-right continued at the regional/local level (Veneto, Piedmont, Lombardy and others municipalities) after 2011 and has become a virtually permanent feature of Lega Nord's electoral politics.

2008–2011 developments

Since 2008, besides the traditional regional divides, the party was increasingly divided among three groups. The first was the so-called "magic circle", that was to say Bossi's inner circle, notably including

By 2011, maroniani clearly became the strongest faction within the party and Maroni, who was acclaimed at the traditional rally in Pontida in June, became Bossi's obvious successor.^{[359][360][361]} Maroniani commanded wide support among rank-and-file members and were well represented in all regions,^{[362][363][364]} notably including Veneto, where Tosi was loyal to Maroni despite being a conservative-liberal.^[365] Maroni and Calderoli, who had been on opposite sides for years, joined forces against the magic circle and its influence on Bossi.^[366] After Pontida 2011, Mauro and Reguzzoni tried to convince Bossi to remove Giorgetti from the leadership of Lega Lombarda, but this move was strongly opposed by Maroni and Calderoli, who were supported in this also by Cota and most Venetians.^{[367][368][369]} The attempted "coup d'etat" produced an umparalleled backclash against the magic circle: 49 deputies out of 59 wanted to replace Reguzzoni as floor leader in the Chamber of Deputies with Stucchi, but Bossi imposed the status quo.^{[370][371][372][373]}

After earning resounding victories in the provincial congresses of Verona, Belluno and eastern Veneto during the first half of 2011, maroniani (with the support of calderoliani) prevailed also in Brescia and Val Camonica, defeating the candidates of the magic circle by landslides.^[374][375] In October, fearing a remake in Varese, his homeprovince, Bossi imposed his candidate, who was declared elected without a vote. In the event, Bossi was openly contested by many delegates at the congress and there had been an open vote, maroniani would have won.^[376] These party infightings ended with Bossi's demise in February 2012 (see Lega Nord#From Bossi to Maroni).

2013–2018 developments

Since Salvini's rise to leadership in 2013, the party sported the usual regional and ideological divides and especially that between Salvini and Tosi as the former displayed a more populist attitude, strongly opposed the Euro and nominally supported separatism while the latter presented himself as a more centrist figure, supported European integration, was soft on independence and unveiled a liberal program^[377] for his intended run in a putative "centre-right prime-ministerial primary election".^[378][379] As leader of Liga Veneta, Tosi, who was ejected from Lega Nord in March 2015, was confronted by the Venetist and separatist wings of the regional party,^[380] having in Zaia and Massimo Bitonci their leading members (see Liga Veneta#Factions). Curiously enough, those Venetists did not oppose Salvini's "Italian nationalist" turn.

Since 2014, Salvini started to build a network of supporters in central-southern Italy and the Isles with the creation of Us with Salvini, a sister party to Lega Nord. This was broadly accepted by Venetians, but it was increasingly opposed by key Lombard figures, including Bossi, Maroni and Paolo Grimoldi (leader of Lega Lombarda), who criticised the LN's right-wing turn and its focus on the South while reclaiming the federalist and autonomist identity of the LN.^{[381][382][383][384]}

In the

The tensions between Salvini and Maroni culminated in latter's decision not to run for a second term as President of Lombardy in 2018. On that occasion, Maroni was very critical of Salvini in an interview with Il Foglio.^[140][141] As a result, very few maroniani were selected as candidates for the 2018 general election^[392] and Fava was also excluded.^[393] Bossi, who had not left the party, was selected by Salvini to lead the LN's list for the Senate in Varese,^[394] but he was challenged also by Gianluigi Paragone, a former LN member who had switched to the Five Star Movement;^[395] and Great North, a party launched by Bernardelli and Marco Reguzzoni.

Popular support

Support for Lega Nord is diverse even within

At the 2008 general election, Lega Nord scored 8.3% at the national level, slightly below the result of 1996: 27.1% in Veneto, 21.6% in Lombardy, 13.0% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 12.6% in Piedmont, 9.4% in Trentino-Alto Adige, 7.8% in Emilia-Romagna, 6.8% in Liguria, 2.2% in the Marche, 2.0% in Tuscany and 1.7% in Umbria.^[400][401]

At the 2009 European Parliament election, Lega Nord won 10.2% of the vote: 28.4% in Veneto, 22.7% in Lombardy, 17.5% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 15.7% in Piedmont, 9.9% in Trentino-Alto Adige, 11.1% in Emilia-Romagna, 9.9% in Liguria, 5.5% in the Marche, 4.3% in Tuscany and 3.6% in Umbria.^[402] At the 2014 European Parliament election, the party scored 15.2% in Veneto and 14.6% in Lombardy.^[403]

At the 2010 regional elections, the party gained 35.2% of the vote in Veneto, 26.2% in Lombardy, 16.7% in Piedmont, 13.7% in Emilia-Romagna, 10.2% in Liguria, 6.3% in the Marche, 6.5% in Tuscany and 4.3% in Umbria.^[404] At the 2014–2015 regional elections, it obtained 40.9% in Veneto, 20.3% in Liguria, 19.4% in Emilia-Romagna, 16.2% in Tuscany, 14.0% in Umbria and 13.0% in Marche, marking its best results so far in those six regions.

The 2013 general election was not a good moment for the party, which gained meagre results, e.g. 12.9% in Lombardy and 10.5% in Veneto.

Five years later, the party obtained its best results so far in the 2018 general election: 17.4% in Italy, 32.2% in Veneto, 28.0% in Lombardy, 26.7% in Trentino, 25.8% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 22.6% in Piedmont, 20.2% in Umbria, 19.9% in Liguria, 19.2% in Emilia-Romagna, as well as significant results in the South (5–10%).

In the 2019 European Parliament election the party again increased its share of the vote: 34.3% in Italy, 49.9% in Veneto, 43.4% in Lombardy, 42.6% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 37.7% in Trentino, 38.2% in Umbria, 38% in Marche, 37.1% in Piedmont, 33.9% in Liguria, 33.8% in Emilia-Romagna, 31.5% in Tuscany, as well as 15-25% in the South.

The electoral results of the LN in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections since 1989 are shown in the chart below.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/−	Leader
1992	3,395,384 (4th)	8.6	55 / 630	–	Umberto Bossi
1994	3,235,248 (5th)	8.4	117 / 630	62	Umberto Bossi
1996	3,776,354 (4th)	10.8	59 / 630	58	Umberto Bossi
2001	1,464,301 (6th)	3.9	30 / 630	28	Umberto Bossi
2006	1,749,632 (6th)	4.6	28 / 630	2	Umberto Bossi
2008	3,024,758 (3rd)	8.3	60 / 630	32	Umberto Bossi
2013	1,390,156 (5th)	4.1	20 / 630	42	Roberto Maroni
2018	5,698,687 (3rd)	17.4	124 / 630	104	Matteo Salvini

Senate of the Republic
Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/−	Leader
1992	2,732,461 (4th)	8.2	25 / 315	–	Umberto Bossi
1994	with PdL	–	60 / 315	35	Umberto Bossi
1996	3,394,733 (4th)	10.4	27 / 315	33	Umberto Bossi
2001	with CdL	–	17 / 315	10	Umberto Bossi
2006	1,530,667 (6th)	4.5	13 / 315	4	Umberto Bossi
2008	2,644,248 (3rd)	7.9	26 / 315	13	Umberto Bossi
2013	1,328,555 (5th)	4.3	18 / 315	8	Roberto Maroni
2018	5,321,537 (3rd)	17.6	58 / 315	40	Matteo Salvini

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/−	Leader
1989	636,242 (9th)	1.8	2 / 81	–	Umberto Bossi
1994	2,162,586 (5th)	6.5	6 / 87	4	Umberto Bossi
1999	1,395,547 (6th)	4.5	4 / 87	2	Umberto Bossi
2004	1,613,506 (7th)	5.0	4 / 78	–	Umberto Bossi
2009	3,126,915 (3rd)	10.2	9 / 72	5	Umberto Bossi
2014	1,688,197 (4th)	6.2	5 / 73	4	Matteo Salvini
2019	9,175,208 (1st)	34.3	29 / 76	24	Matteo Salvini

Electoral results by region

The electoral results of Lega Nord (and its predecessors) in northern and north-central regions are shown in the table below.^{[405][406][407]}

Chamber of Deputies

European Parliament

Regional Councils

Name and symbols

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2018)

Thanks to its use of the figure of Alberto da Giussano—legendary warrior of the Lombard League during the Battle of Legnano—in his iconography and campaigns, the LN has been nicknamed "il Carroccio" by the Italian media, a reference to a four-wheeled war altar used during the battle.^[408] Later on, the "sun of the Alps" was chosen as a symbol of Padanian nationalism.^[409] The party also made Va, pensiero by Giuseppe Verdi Padania's "national" anthem.^[410]

Leadership

Federal party

• Federal Secretary: Umberto Bossi (1989–2012), Roberto Maroni (2012–2013), Matteo Salvini (2013–2020), Igor Iezzi (2020–present, commissioner)
  • Deputy Federal Secretary: Francesco Formenti (1992–1995), Francesco Speroni (1998–1999), Gianpaolo Dozzo (1998–1999), Mario Borghezio (1998–1999), Federico Caner (vicar, 2012–2013), Giacomo Stucchi (2012–2013), Elena Maccanti (2012–2013), Matteo Salvini (2013), Flavio Tosi (2013), Riccardo Molinari (2014–2016), Edoardo Rixi (2014–2016), Giancarlo Giorgetti (2016–2020), Lorenzo Fontana (2016–2020), Andrea Crippa (2019–2020)
  • Coordinator of National Sections/Organisational Secretary: Roberto Calderoli (2002–2020)
  • Coordinator of Federal Secretariat/Legislative Office: Roberto Ronchi (1991–1994), Roberto Maroni (1994–2001), Francesco Speroni (2001–2005), Roberto Maroni (2005–2012), Giacomo Stucchi (2012–2013), Federico Bricolo (2013–2016)
• Federal President: Marilena Marin (1989–1991), Franco Rocchetta (1991–1994), Stefano Stefani (1995–2002), Luciano Gasperini (2002–2005), Angelo Alessandri (2005–2012), Umberto Bossi (2012–present)
  • Honorary President: Luigi Rossi (1991–1996)
• Federal Administrative Secretary/Administrator: Alessandro Patelli (1991–1993), Maurizio Balocchi (1993–2010), Francesco Belsito (2010–2012), Stefano Stefani (2012–2014), Giulio Centemero (2014–present)
• Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies: Marco Formentini (1992–1993), Roberto Maroni (1993–1994), Pierluigi Petrini (1994–1995), Vito Gnutti (1995–1996), Domenico Comino (1996–1999), Giancarlo Pagliarini (1999–2001), Alessandro Cè (2001–2005), Andrea Gibelli (2005–2006), Roberto Maroni (2006–2008), Roberto Cota (2008–2010), Marco Reguzzoni (2010–2012), Gianpaolo Dozzo (2012–2013), Giancarlo Giorgetti (2013–2014), Massimiliano Fedriga (2014–2018), Giancarlo Giorgetti (2018), Riccardo Molinari (2018–present)
• Party Leader in the Senate: Francesco Speroni (1992–1994), Francesco Tabladini (1994–1996), Francesco Speroni (1996–1999), Luciano Gasperini (1998–1999), Roberto Castelli (1999–2001), Francesco Moro (2001–2004), Ettore Pirovano (2004–2006), Roberto Castelli (2006–2008), Federico Bricolo (2008–2013), Massimo Bitonci (2013–2014), Gian Marco Centinaio (2014–2018), Massimiliano Romeo (2018–present)
• Party Leader in the European Parliament: Francesco Speroni (1989–1992), Luigi Moretti (1992–1999), Francesco Speroni (1999–2004), Mario Borghezio (2004–2009), Francesco Speroni (2009–2012), Lorenzo Fontana (2012–2014), Matteo Salvini (2014–2018), Mara Bizzotto (2018–2019), Marco Campomenosi (2019–present)

Major national sections

Liga Veneta

• Secretary: Achille Tramarin (1980−1983), Marilena Marin (1983−1984), Franco Rocchetta (1984−1985), Marilena Marin (1985−1994), Fabrizio Comencini (1994−1998), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1998−2012), Flavio Tosi (2012−2015), Gianpaolo Dozzo (commissioner 2015–2016), Gianantonio Da Re (2016–2019), Lorenzo Fontana (commissioner 2019–2020), Alberto Stefani (2020–present, commissioner 2020–2023)
• President: Franco Rocchetta (1991−1994), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1994−1998), Giuseppe Ceccato (1998–1999), Manuela Dal Lago (2001−2008), Flavio Tosi (2008−2012), Luca Baggio (2012–2015), Massimo Bitonci (2016–2020)

Lega Lombarda

• Secretary: Umberto Bossi (1984–1993), Luigi Negri (1993–1995), Roberto Calderoli (1995–2002), Giancarlo Giorgetti (2002–2012), Matteo Salvini (2012–2014), Stefano Borghesi (commissioner 2014–2015), Paolo Grimoldi (2015–2021), Fabrizio Cecchetti (commissioner 2021–present)
• President: Augusto Arizzi (1986–1987), Silvana Bazzan (1987–1989), Franco Castellazzi (1989–1991), Francesco Speroni (1991–1993), Roberto Calderoli (1993–1995), Giuseppe Leoni (1995–1999), Stefano Galli (1999–2002), Roberto Castelli (2002–2012), Giancarlo Giorgetti (2012–2017), Giacomo Stucchi (2017–2020)

• Secretary: Gipo Farassino (1987–1997), Domenico Comino (1997–1999), Bernardino Bosio (1999–2001), Roberto Cota (2001–2016), Riccardo Molinari (2016–present, commissioner 2020–2023)
• President: Angelo Colli (1991–1992), Domenico Comino (1994–1997), Bernardino Bosio (1997–1999), Silvano Straneo (2000–2001), Oreste Rossi (2001–2004), Mario Borghezio (2004–2011), Gianna Gancia (2012–2016), Stefano Allasia (2016–2020)

See also

• List of regional and minority parties in Europe
• List of active separatist movements in Europe

References