Secretary Gianluca Vinci Founded 1989 Legislative Assembly
of Emilia-Romagna 7 / 50 | President Giovanni Tombolato National affiliation Lega Nord | |
 | ||
Ideology Federalism
Regionalism
Populism | ||
Lega Nord Emilia (English: Emilia Northern League, LNE) is a regionalist political party in Italy, active in the Emilian part of Emilia-Romagna. Formed in 1989, since 1991 it has been one of the "national" (hence, regional) sections of Lega Nord.
Contents
The party's current national secretary is Gianluca Vinci, its president Giovanni Tombolato.
History
The party was founded in 1989 by Giorgio Conca, a leading member of Lega Lombarda, and Carla Uccelli, as Emilian-Romagna League (Lega Emiliano-Romagnola, LER), thus comprising also Romagna.
Soon after the LER was joined by Fabio Dosi, who was elected secretary.
The party participated to the 1989 European Parliament election as part of the coalition Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord.
In 1989–1990 the LER took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections, taking the current name, upon the separation from Lega Nord Romagna (LNR). Since then LNE and LNR have been the two regional sections of Lega Nord in Emilia-Romagna, but continue to cooperate in regional politics.
From 2002 to 2012 the party was led by Angelo Alessandri, who served also as federal president of Lega Nord from 2005 to 2012. At the 2008 general election the party elected four deputies (including Alessandri and Gianluca Pini, leader of Lega Nord Romagna) and two senators (including Angela Maraventano, leader of Extreme South and Deputy-Mayor of Lampedusa).
In May 2012 Alessandri stepped down from secretary and was replaced by Fabio Rainieri, an ally of Roberto Maroni and one of the leaders of the party's agricultural wing. Rainieri, who had formerly been president, was elected with the support of 173 delegates at the party's congress, while his opponent Riad Ghelfi had secured just 93. Some weeks later, Manes Bernardini, a party's rising star from Bologna, was elected president by the party's national council with 70% of the vote. In November Alessandri left the party altogether. At the same time a group of activists quit in order to join Matteo Renzi's campaign for the 2012 centre-left primary election.
In June 2014 Pietro Pisani replaced Bernardini as national president. Bernardini would leave the party altogether in October.
In the 2014 regional election the joint list of LNE and LNR obtained its best result ever in a regionwide election (19.4%).
In December 2015, during a national congress, Gianluca Vinci (204 votes) beat Matteo Rancan (143) and was elected secretary. The vote was setback for Lega Nord's federal secretary Matteo Salvini, who supported Rancan: though not an anti-salviniano, Vinci was once close to Flavio Tosi, a Venetian leader who was ejected by Salvini from the party earlier that year, and a more independent figure. In January 2016 Giovanni Tombolato was elected national president.
Popular support
Lega Nord is usually stronger in Emilian provinces than in Romagna. In the 2014 regional election it did better in the provinces of Piacenza (28.2%), Parma (24.3%) and Ferrara (26.1%), having its stronghold in Bondeno (47.1%), the hometown of the party's leading candidate, Alan Fabbri.
The combined electoral results of Lega Nord Emilia and Lega Nord Romagna in Emilia-Romagna are shown in the table below.