Recent History
In the 2003 provincial election the SVP won 55.6% of the vote and 21 provincial deputies out of 35. Luis Durnwalder, President of the Province since 1989, was returned for the fourth time in office, at the head of a coalition composed by the Democrats of the Left and a local alliance between Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats.
In the 2004 European Parliament election the SVP formed an electoral alliance with The Olive Tree. The party's share of votes fell for the first time down 50%, stopping at 46.7% (–9.3% from 1999, mainly because of the big win of the Greens (13.2%, +6.5%). However Michl Ebner was elected MEP with more than 90,000 preferences and a Green, Sepp Kusstatscher (a former member of the internal left of the SVP), was elected too.
In the 2006 general election the party was part of the winning coalition The Union and garnered three senators and four deputies, which included one for its sister-party in Trentino, the Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party.
Read more about this topic: South Tyrolean People's Party
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