Lega Lombarda - History

History

Lega Lombarda was officially founded on 12 April 1984 by Umberto Bossi, who used the resonance of the name of the historical Lega Lombarda when choosing the name. Originally Lega Autonomista Lombarda (Lombard Autonomist League, LAL), the party took the current name in 1986. At its electoral debut in the 1987 general election, Lega Lombarda gained 2.6% of the vote in Lombardy. Bossi was elected to the Senate and Giuseppe Leoni to the Chamber of Deputies.

The party participated to the 1989 European Parliament election as the leading member of the coalition Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord (8.1% in Lombardy and two MEPs elected). In 1989–1990 it took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections. In February 1991 it merged into Lega Nord and since then it has been the "national" (hence, regional9 section of that party in Lombardy.

In 1993 Luigi Negri took over as secretary. In 1995 he defected to the Federalist Italian League and was replaced as secretary by Roberto Calderoli, who, as president, had evicted him from the party, despite being his brother-in-law. Calderoli led the party to its best result up to that point in the 1996 general election, when it gained 25.5%.

In 2002 Calderoli was replaced by Giancarlo Giorgetti, while Roberto Castelli became president.

In the 2010 regional election the party gained 26.2%, its best result ever.

The LL elected its new leadership at a congress on 1–2 June 2012. Matteo Salvini ran as candidate of the faction around Roberto Maroni, while Cesarino Monti was the candidate of the old guard and of Bossi's loyalists. Salvini won the election with 74% of the votes, that is to say the support of 403 delegates out of 532. Soon after, Giorgetti was appointed national president.

On 1 July 2012 Maroni was elected federal secretary of Lega Nord by its federal congress. The Lombard delegates elected also six members to the federal council: Giacomo Stucchi (who was appointed deputy federal secretary by Maroni), Paolo Grimoldi, Andrea Mascetti, Gianni Fava, Simona Bordonali, and, on behalf of the minority, Marco Desiderati.