History
The party was founded in June 2004 by Giorgio Panto, along with former members of the Liga Veneta–Lega Nord and former members of Liga Fronte Veneto, notably Mariangelo Foggiato and Ettore Beggiato. Panto himself had been a long-time supporter of Lega Nord, but he distanced from it as he perceived it to be too moderate and Lombardy-centred.
The PNE won 5.4% of the vote in the 2005 regional election, electing two members to the Regional Council of Veneto, Mariangelo Foggiato and Diego Cancian, while Giorgio Panto, who was candidate for President and ran a campaign based on the slogan "Dignity. Autonomy for Veneto", took 6.0% (16.1% in the stronghold of Treviso). The key-issue for the party within the Regional Council has since been transforming Veneto into an autonomous region as Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia are.
In the 2006 general election the party won 2.7% of the vote in Veneto and the 0.7% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia for the Chamber of Deputies, while the list for the Senate, headed by Panto, did not go further 3.5%, failing to elect him senator (he would have needed to surpass the 8.0% threshold for parties non affiliated to a national coalition). In the Treviso provincial election Panto and the PNE won respectively 10.3 and the 10.8% of the vote, respectively.
Since the sudden death in an helicopter accident of Giorgio Panto on 26 November 2006, the future of the party, which was heavily dependent on his leadership, personality and cash, is at risk. In 2008 it seemed likely that the party would have formed an alliance with The People of Freedom and Liga Veneta–Lega Nord. However, after that talks with the leaders of the centre-right failed, the PNE decided not to present a list for the 2008 general election, thus helping Liga Veneta to win 27.1% of the vote in the region.
In October 2008 the PNE signed a coalition pact with Liga Veneta Repubblica (which soon left the alliance) and Venetian Agreement for the future municipal, provincial and regional elections "in order to provide an adequate representation to the Venetian people, in line with what happens in Europe, from Scotland to Catalonia, from Wales to Brittany, where federalist, autonomist and independentist parties, who resopond uniquely to their territory, see their popular support increasing."
In November 2008 Diego Cancian, one of the two PNE regional deputies, left the party over disagreements with Foggiato and started his own party, the Forum of the Venetians. In the 2009 provincial elections the party had its best result in Belluno (1.6%), where it supported the candidate of Liga Veneta.
For the 2010 regional election the party finally chose to support Antonio De Poli (UDC) for President under the banner of North-East Union (UNE), along with UNE, LVR and IV. The list won 1.5% of vote, with peaks of 1.9% and 1.8% in the provinces of Treviso and Belluno, and Mariangelo Foggiato (PNE) was re-elected to the Council.
In the 2011 provincial election of Treviso the UNE won 2.4% of the vote and the PNE lost all its provincial councillors.
Read more about this topic: North-East Project
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