Secretary Gianluca Collu Headquarters Aristanis/Oristano | Founded 2 January 2011 Colours White and green | |
Presidents Carla Carcangiu
Sebastian Madau Ideology Sardinian nationalism
Separatism
Social democracy | ||
Project Republic of Sardinia (Progetu Repùblica de Sardigna, ProgReS) is a separatist and social-democratic political party in Sardinia, founded in January 2011 following an acrimonious split from Independence Republic of Sardinia (iRS).
Contents
The party's current secretary is Gianluca Collu, while Carla Carcangiu and Sebastian Madau serve as presidents.
History
In January 2011, after a struggle with Gavino Sale, president of iRS, the iRS faction led by former leader Ornella Demuru, including iRS founding members Frantziscu Sanna and Franciscu Sedda, decided to leave the party and launch a "Republican Constituent Assembly" (Sa Costituente Repubricana). In February the new party took the name of Project Republic of Sardinia (ProgReS) and Bobore Bussa was elected as provisional leader.
The party made its first electoral appearance in May 2011 at the municipal elections in Cagliari and Olbia by filing candidates for mayor (Demuru in Cagliari and Gianmaria Bellu in Olbia) and for the city councils. In both cases ProgReS mayoral candidates took less than 1% of the vote. However, the results were welcomed as encouraging, considering the paucity of resources available, as well as the fact the party was new and had yet to make a name for itself.
At the party's first congress in August 2011, Bussa was replaced as secretary by Salvatore Acampora, while Omar Onnis was elected president.
In July 2012 Demuru and Sedda left the party over disagreements with the new leadership and the rise of Michela Murgia, a well-known writer. A year later Sedda went on to launch the Party of Sardinians (PdS) along with Paolo Maninchedda, a splinter from the Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az).
The party's second congress took place in Cagliari in December 2012. Party members were presented with two proposals: one that saw candidates for the main party roles led by Contu; an alternative proposal whereby each coordinator of the nine regional constituencies would have taken the role of party leader for a limited period time, thus creating a turning leadership. The team led by Contu won and the proposal of a turning leadership was rejected. The congress also accepted a proposal to appoint two party presidents, a female and a male. Federica Serra (who was mainly responsible for the rejuvenation of iRS graphics) and Sandro Ghiani were elected presidents.
In August 2013 Murgia announced she was running for President of Sardinia in the 2014 regional election for ProgRes. In November 2013, during the party's third congress, Paolo Piras was elected secretary. In the forthcoming election Murgia 10.3% of the vote, but ProgReS, which suffered the competition of two coalition partners, gained 2.8% and failed to pass the 5% threshold for parties outside big coalitions.
In May 2014, during the party's fourth congress, Gianluca Collu was elected secretary, while Carla Carcangiu and Sebastian Madau presidents.
Organisation
The party is organised in eight regional constituencies (Cagliari/Castèddu; Sulcis-Iglesiente; Medio Campidano/Campidànu; Oristano/Aristànis; Nuoro/Nùgoro; Ogliastra/Ogiàstra; Sassari/Tàtari; Gallura/Gaddhùra) and a ninth constituency (Distèrru) representing the Sardinian diaspora in Europe and the world. ProgReS is the second party, after iRS, to organise and involve the Sardinian diaspora in regional politics. Party constituencies publish their own online magazines. For instance, the Disterru constituency publishes Su Bandu with articles in Sardinian, Italian and English.