The South Tyrolean People's Party (German: Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP; Italian: Partito Popolare Sudtirolese) is a regionalist catch-all political party in South Tyrol, northern Italy.
Founded in 1945, the SVP represents the German-speaking population of the province, as well as Ladin speakers. The SVP is a diverse party including Christian democrats, conservatives, social democrats and liberals.
Since the first election of the Provincial Council in 1948, the party has gained the absolute majority in each and every election. Its best result ever was 67.8% in 1948, its worst 48.1% in the 2008 provincial election.
The party had long been in alliance with Christian Democracy (and the Italian Socialist Party) until 1994 and later with some of its successor parties, including the Italian People's Party and the Democratic Union of Alto Adige. In 1998 the SVP enlarged the provincial government to the social-democratic Democrats of the Left. Currently, the SVP governs with the support of the Democratic Party, a result of the merger of the Democrats of the Left with other centre-left parties.
Read more about South Tyrolean People's Party: Recent History, Ideology and Factions, Popular Support, Leadership
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