Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta (; ; abbr. LV), whose complete name is (), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto. The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was established in 1979 and was the first party of its kind in northern Italy, predating Umberto Bossi's Lega Lombarda by five years. The LV was one of the founding "national" sections of Lega Nord (LN) in 1991 and has been the regional section of Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP) in Veneto since 2020. In the 2010 regional election the LV was by far the largest party in Veneto  with 35.2% of the vote and LV's Luca Zaia, who was supported also by The People of Freedom, was elected President of Veneto with 60.2%. In the 2015 regional election the LV, which fielded also a "Zaia list" improved its tally to 40.9% and Zaia, who counted also on the support of some minor parties, was re-elected with 50.1%. In the 2020 regional election the LV's two lists improved again their tally to 61.5% and Zaia was re-elected by a landslide 76.8% of the vote. History. Early years (1978–1989). Liga Veneta was promoted in 1978 by  Franco Rocchetta, a Venetian philologist who had been speaking of a "Venetian league" since 1968. The party constitution, modelled on those of the Valdostan Union and the Radical Party, was officially signed by 14 founding members on 16 January 1980 in Padua and Achille Tramarin was elected national secretary. Shortly after, some hardliners, led by Luigi Faccia and Flavio Contin, left the party: in 1987 they would launch the Most Serene Venetian Government and in 1997 would organise the St Mark's Campanile's "assault" (see Venetian nationalism). Another split occurred in 1983: Giulio Pizzati's Liga Federativa Veneta. In  the 1983 general election the LV gained 4.3% in Veneto: Tramarin was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and Graziano Girardi to the Senate. In the "Pedemontana", the area of the Padanian-Venetian Plain at the feet of the Venetian Prealps, the LV became the second largest party after then-dominant Christian Democracy (DC). This party would be mostly damaged from the rise of the LV as both parties concurred for the support of the middle class. DC regional leader Antonio Bisaglia had proposed a regional party modelled on the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, but opposition from Rome and  his sudden death stopped the plan. Soon after the election, a power struggle for the leadership of the party took place and the winner was Rocchetta, disappointed for his missed election, who had been behind the scenes up to that moment. Tramarin was replaced as national secretary by Marilena Marin, the future wife of Rocchetta. In the 1984 European Parliament election the LV gained 3.3% in Veneto, but did not win seats. In the 1985 regional election the party obtained 3.7% and two regional councillors: Ettore Beggiato and Rocchetta. Liga Veneta Serenissima of Tramarin, expelled from the party by Marin , won a mere 0.2% of the vote and, since then, Rocchetta and Marin have had the party in their hands. In the 1980s the party suffered also other two splits: that of the Union of the Venetian People (UPV), formed by Beggiato (who was joined by Tramarin and Girardi) and that of the Veneto Autonomous Region Movement (MVRA). The only counterweight to Rocchetta–Marin within the LV was thus represented by the Treviso wing, which then started to gain influence, under the leadership of Gian Paolo Gobbo and Mauro Michielon. In the next elections, the LV and the UPV had  similar showings. Foundation of Lega Nord (1989–1994). In 1989 the party's charismatic leader, Rocchetta and his wife Marin, secretary of the party, managed to forge an alliance with Umberto Bossi's Lega Lombarda for that year's European Parliament election, Alleanza Nord. In 1989–1990 the LV took part in the process of federating the northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections. In the 1990 regional election the LV and the UPV scored 5.9% and 1.9%, respectively. In the 1991 local elections, the UPV passed the LV. Some attempts to merge the two parties into one failed, but from  that point, thanks to the alliance with Bossi, Liga Veneta's rise seemed unstoppable. In February 1991 the LV joined Lega Lombarda and other regionalist parties from every northern region to form Lega Nord (LN) and, since then, the LV has been the regional section of the party in Veneto. Bossi was elected federal secretary and Rocchetta federal president. Thanks to the federal structure of Lega Nord and to its ideology (according to which Padania is a country formed of different nations: Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, etc.), the LV retained much of its autonomy. In the 1992 general election the LN  scored 8.7% throughout Italy and the LV won 17.8% of the vote in Veneto, returning into the Italian Parliament after five years. The UPV and the MVRA both won 1.5% of the vote, while Lega Autonomia Veneta (LAV), formed by the former Socialist mayor of Venice Mario Rigo, got 4.7%. The Venetist movement, divided as ever, together gained the support of about a quarter of Venetian voters. Heyday and internal splits (1994–1998). In the 1994 general election the LV won 21.6% of the vote in Veneto (the LAV took 3.2%) and three of its members joined Berlusconi I Cabinet: Rocchetta  was undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Mariella Mazzetto of Education and Giovanni Meo Zilio (a former Socialist partisan during Italian resistance), of University and Research. Between 1994 and 1995 the LV was also part of the regional government for the first time, with Gobbo as Vice President. In July 1994 Marin was replaced by Fabrizio Comencini as national secretary of the party, while Gobbo was elected national president. Shortly after, in September, Rocchetta and Marin left the party in disagreement with Bossi and the new Venetian leadership. Rocchetta was replaced by Stefano Stefani, a leading member of the LV, as federal  president of Lega Nord in February 1995. The exit of Rocchetta and Marin made possible the comeback of Beggiato into the party. Thanks to this the LV did not suffer a major setback in the 1995 regional election: 17.4% and 9 regional councillors elected. In the 1996 general election Bossi led Lega Nord to its strongest showing in a general election: with 10.1% of the vote, the party, present only in Northern Italy, became the fourth largest of the country. Comencini's Liga Veneta was the strongest national section of the League: it gained 29.3% of the vote in Veneto , 19 deputies and 9 senators, mostly elected in single-seat constituencies, in which the party, favoured by split-ticket voting, gained a total 32.8% of the vote. In 1994 the party won the mayorship of Treviso with Giancarlo Gentilini, and a year later it gained control of three provinces: Padua with Renzo Sacco, Verona with Antonio Borghesi and Treviso with Giovanni Mazzonetto. In 1997 the party won also in the province of Vicenza with Manuela Dal Lago, while Luca Zaia was elected President of the province of Treviso, replacing Mazzonetto, in 1998. Also in 1998, Gentilini was re-elected mayor  of Treviso. In 1998 Comencini left the party over disagreements with Bossi and formed a brand-new Venetist party named Liga Veneta Repubblica (then Veneti d'Europa). Seven regional councillors out of nine followed Comencini into the new party, while Gobbo took over as national secretary of the LV, along with a new national president, Giuseppe Ceccato (who left the party in 1999). In the 1999 provincial elections the party lost the provinces of Padua and Verona. Decline and resurgence (1998–2006). By 2000 the party started to recover from the schism of 1998 and took 12.0% of the vote in the  2000 regional election (the combined score of Veneti d'Europa and Fronte Marco Polo, another split, was 3.7%), re-joining after five years the regional government. In the 2001 general election the LV won a mere 10.2% in Veneto, with 9 deputies and 4 senators elected, all in single-seat constituencies, thanks to the alliance with Forza Italia within the House of Freedoms coalition. After the election, Dozzo and Stefani joined Berlusconi II Cabinet as undersecretaries of Agriculture and Industry, respectively. In the 2002 provincial elections the party won for the second time in a row in Vicenza and Treviso. The  province of Treviso confirmed itself as the most-"leghista" province of Italy and Zaia was re-elected Provincial President with more than 40% in the first round and with almost 70% in the run-off, although he had refused the support of Lega Nord's allies in Rome and Venice, Forza Italia and National Alliance. Also in 2002 LV's Luciano Gasperini was elected federal president of Lega Nord. In a party congress in Vicenza, Gobbo was re-elected national secretary and Dal Lago was elected national president. In 2003 Gobbo was also elected mayor of Treviso. In the 2005 regional  election the LV gained 14.7% of the vote, despite the presence of other two Venetist parties (North-East Project and Liga Fronte Veneto, 5.4% and 1.2% respectively), and was decisive for the third re-election of Giancarlo Galan as President of Veneto. After the election, the LV joined the Galan III Government, with Zaia Vice President of the Region and minister of Agriculture and Tosi minister of Health. In the 2006 general election however, the party scored 11.1% and got elected 5 deputies and 3 senators. It was the worst result in terms of elected members in the Italian Parliament  since 1987, due to the narrow victory of the centre-left, which won the majority-premium for the Chamber of Deputies and to the presence of North-East Project (2.7%) and of Liga Fronte Veneto (0.7%). In a provincial election Leonardo Muraro was elected President of the province of Treviso and the LV scored 29.2% (combined result of party list, 15.6%, and Zaia's personal list, 13.6%), despite a good result by the rival North-East Project (11.6%). Road to the leadership of Veneto (2006–2010). In 2007 Tosi was elected mayor of Verona by a landslide (60.8% against the 33.9 % of incumbent Paolo Zanotto), while in the provincial election of Vicenza Attilio Schneck succeeded to Dal Lago as President (60.0%, largely ahead of her main challenger, Pietro Collareda, who stopped at 17.2%). Both Tosi, who was the second "leghista" to become mayor of a big city after Marco Formentini in Milan between 1993 and 1997, and Schneck were supported by the House of Freedoms coalition, but the LV had an excellent result in both races: in Vicenza it garnered 19.0% of the vote, while in Verona it ranked first among the parties with 28.4% (combined score of party list, 12.0 %, and Tosi's personal list, 16.4%). In June 2007, Tosi was replaced as regional minister of Health by Francesca Martini. In the 2008 general election the LV won a surprising 27.1% in Veneto, its best result since the 1996 election, getting 16 deputies and 7 senators elected. Meanwhile, Gobbo was re-elected mayor of Treviso with 50.4% of the vote, twice the score of his main opponent. The combined result of the LV and Giancarlo Gentilini's personal list was 35.4%. Subsequently, Zaia became minister of Agriculture and Martini undersecretary of Health in Berlusconi IV Cabinet. Federico Bricolo became floor  leader of Lega Nord in the Senate. Zaia and Martini were thus replaced in the regional government by Franco Manzato and Sandro Sandri, respectively. In July 2008 the party held its national congress in Padua. Gobbo was re-elected for the fourth time national secretary, while Tosi replaced Dal Lago as national president. Tosi appeared to be also the standard-bearer of the party in view of the 2010 regional election, along with Zaia. In the 2009 European Parliament election the LV confirmed its strength, by gaining 28.4% and three MEPs: Lorenzo Fontana, a rising star from Verona, Giancarlo Scottà  and Mara Bizzotto. The party also won two more provinces, Venice, a stronghold of the left, with Francesca Zaccariotto, and Belluno with Gianpaolo Bottacin. 2010 regional election and aftermath (2010–2012). In December 2009 The People of Freedom (PdL) determined that the coalition candidate in the 2010 regional election would be a "leghista". Subsequently, the national council of Liga Veneta nominated Zaia for President. Tosi, who, as party president, presided the council, tried to be himself the candidate, and others proposed instead Manzato. However, Zaia had a broader support than Tosi and was unanimously chosen by the council. In the election  Zaia was elected President of Veneto by a landslide, with 60.2% of the vote against 29.1% of his foremost opponent, Giuseppe Bortolussi of the Democratic Party (PD). The election was a triumph for the LV, which was by far the largest party in the region with 35.2% of the vote, up from 14.7% of five years before, and got 20 seats in the Regional Council, up from 11. Zaia was also the most voted President of Veneto since direct elections were introduced in 1995. After the election, Zaia appointed a cabinet including six party members, a majority of whom were  tosiani: Roberto Ciambetti (Budget and Local Government), Luca Coletto (Health), Maurizio Conte (Environment), Marino Finozzi (Tourism and International Trade), Franco Manzato (Agriculture) and Daniele Stival (Venetian Identity and Civil Protection). In the 2011 provincial election of Treviso Muraro was easily re-elected president. The LV won 40.8% of the vote (combined result of party list, 29.6%, and Muraro's personal list, 11.4%), which was an 11.6% gain since the previous provincial election in 2006, but also a 7.7% loss from the 2010 regional election. In late 2011, after the fall of Berlusconi's government, Lega Nord abandoned the alliance with  the PdL. Perceiving that the party was entering a crisis, Giuseppe Covre (a former mayor of Oderzo and MP) and Marzio Favero (mayor of Montebelluna and philosopher) proposed a "Manifesto for the League which will be". In its call for a "cultural revolution" and for a bottom-up restructuring of the party, the document was interpreted as a call for a new leadership, both at national and federal level. All throughout 2011 the faction around Tosi, close to Roberto Maroni at the federal level, won most provincial congresses in Veneto, including that of Treviso. Party's renewal and reform (2012–2015 ). In early April 2012 a corruption scandal hit the "magic circle" around Bossi, who resigned from federal secretary of Lega Nord after 21 years. This had consequences also in Veneto: a national congress was scheduled for 2–3 June 2012 and, after fourteen years on top, Gobbo decided to step down from secretary. Tosi, just re-elected mayor of Verona with 57.4% of the vote (three times his closest opponent Michele Bertucco, who got a mere 22.8%), started his bid for the party's national leadership. Massimo Bitonci, a darling of Venetists and long-time rival of Tosi, was chosen as  joint candidate by Venetists and Gobbo's loyalists. On 3 June 2012 Tosi was elected secretary with 57% of the vote (236 delegates out of 414), while Bitonci had 43% (178 delegates). On 9 June the LV's national council elected Luca Baggio, an ally of Tosi, as national president. Zaia warned Tosi that if he were not to be a unifying leader a split might occur. On 1 July 2012 Maroni was elected federal secretary during a federal congress presided by Zaia. The Venetian delegates elected also four members to the federal council: Finozzi ("tosiano"), Bitonci (Venetist, anti-Tosi ), Stival (Venetist, "tosiano") and Dal Lago (Venetist, independent). A few days later Maroni appointed Federico Caner, who was supported by both Tosi and Gobbo, as his vicar. As early as in May 2013 Caner was replaced by Tosi. At the 2013 general election the LV stopped at 10.5%, almost a record low, resulting in just 5 deputies and 5 senators. Tosi considered this a consequence of the renewed alliance with the PdL (instrumental to Maroni's election as President of Lombardy), while many party bigwigs, including Zaia, criticised his leadership, management of the campaign and selection of candidates. Most provincial  leaders resigned or were deposed by Tosi, who appointed loyalists. In April the national council of LV, led by Tosi, expelled 35 party members (mostly Venetists or old-guard "bossiani"), including two regional councillors and a former deputy. In August the dissidents, led by Corrado Callegari, a former deputy, formed Veneto First, which became a separate party in January 2014 and welcomed a third councillor in February 2015. In the 2013 municipal elections the party lost the mayorship of Treviso after 19 years, as Giancarlo Gentilini surrendered to Democrat Giovanni Manildo 55.5% to 44.5%. However, one year later, in the  2014 municipal elections Bitonci was elected mayor of the much bigger city of Padua, a Democratic stronghold, by defeating the incumbent Ivo Rossi 53.5% to 46.5%. The party thus governed two of the three largest cities of Veneto, Verona and Padua. Finally, in the 2014 European Parliament election the LV gained 15.2% and two MEPs, Tosi (who showed his popular support once for all and was soon replaced by Fontana) and Bizzotto. Road to the 2015 regional election. In the run-up of the 2015 regional election the party was quite divided on alliances and strategies. Zaia wanted to continue  the alliance with Forza Italia and the New Centre-Right (the two parties emerged from the break-up of the PdL) and to reinforce it with the creation of a "Zaia List", Tosi wanted the party to run with the sole support of the "Zaia List" and a "Tosi List", while Matteo Salvini, who succeeded to Maroni as federal secretary in 2013, kept an open mind only on Forza Italia and opposed, along with Zaia, any notion of a "Tosi List". Furthermore, while Zaia, supported by Salvini, wanted to renovate the party's group in the Regional Council (in order  to get rid of some of his ministers who happened to be "tosiani") and have a final say on the compilation of the party's slates, Tosi, who defended the position of long-time regional councillors and ministers, claimed his authority and the autonomy of the LV in relation to the federal party. In early March the struggle between Tosi and Zaia–Salvini led the former to threaten a run in competition with Zaia in the regional election and Lega Nord's federal council to appoint Dozzo as a mediator between Tosi and Zaia. The internal clashes led three regional  councillors to quit the party in the Regional Council: Vittorino Cenci joined Veneto First, while LV's president Baggio and Matteo Toscani launched the pro-Tosi "Venetian Commitment". All three disagreed with a perceived party's rightward shift under Salvini, while Cenci contested also Tosi and the party's engagement in southern politics through Us with Salvini (NcS). After a long struggle between Tosi and Salvini, the latter acknowledged the former's relinquishment from party member, on the grounds that Tosi had refused to ditch his think tank, named "Let's Rebuild the Country", and appointed Dozzo federal commissioner for  the LV. Consequently, Tosi decided to run for President against Zaia. Besides Baggio and Toscani, four more regional councillors (Stival, regional minister of Venetian Identity, and Giuseppe Stoppato, who formed, along with former Democrat Diego Bottacin, a group named "Toward North–Venetian People", Conte, regional minister of the Environment, and Andrea Bassi), three deputies, three senators and Muraro (president of the province of Treviso), followed Tosi, while two factional leaders, Finozzi (regional minister of Tourism and International Trade) and Bizzotto MEP, chose not to. In the meantime, Venetian Agreement changed its name into "Tosi List for Veneto" (LTV). 2015 regional  election and aftermath. The election was a triumph for Zaia, who was re-elected with 50.1% of the vote, and Liga Veneta, which obtained 40.9% of the vote (combined result of official party list, 17.8%, and Zaia's personal list, 23.1%). Tosi and the two lists connected to the LTV won 11.9% and 7.1%, respectively, while other regionalist parties (Independence We Veneto, Venetian Independence, North-East Union, Autonomous Veneto Project and Veneto Confederal State) gained another 6.3% in what was the best result ever for both Venetist parties, which controlled the majority of the Regional Council for the first time , and Liga Veneta itself, which obtained 24 seats out of 51 in it. After the election, Zaia unveiled his second government, composed of ten ministers, including nine "Lighisti": Gianluca Forcolin (Vice President, Budget and Local Government), Luca Coletto (Health and Social Programs), Roberto Marcato (Economic Development and Energy), Elisa De Berti (Publick Works, Infrastructures and Transports), Giuseppe Pan (Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing), Manuela Lanzarin (Social Affairs), Federico Caner (EU Programs, Tourism and International Trade), Gianpaolo Bottacin (Environment and Civil Protection) and Cristiano Corazzari (Culture, City Planning and Security); Elena Donazzan (Education and Labour) represented Forza Italia. In February 2015, during  a national congress, Gianantonio Da Re, a long-time "lighista" from the province of Treviso, affiliate of Gobbo and now close to Zaia, was elected national secretary. Da Re's election represented a return to normality after the traumatic leadership and ousting of Tosi. Subsequently, Bitonci was appointed national president by the party's national council and, contextually, Fontana was appointed deputy federal secretary by Salvini. After Salvini's re-election as LN federal secretary in the 2017 leadership election (with overwhelming support from Venetians, still grateful for Tosi's ousting), at the party's federal congress on 21 May  2017 three LV members (Fontana, Marcato and Erik Pretto) were elected to the federal council. In the 2018 general election the party obtained 32.2% of the vote, its best result ever in a general election, and, under a new electoral law that had re-introduced single-seat constituencies, had 23 deputies (including Bitonci, who had been defeated in the early 2017 municipal election in Padua) and 9 senators elected. After months of negotiations, the LN formed a coalition government with the Five Star Movement (M5S), under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Two LV members were appointed ministers in Conte Cabinet: Erika  Stefani at Regional Affairs and Autonomies, and Lorenzo Fontana at Family and Disability. In the 2019 European Parliament election the party reached 49.9% of the vote. 2020 regional election and aftermath. The regional election was, even more, a triumph for Zaia, who was re-elected for a third conservative term with 76.8% of the vote. Liga Veneta fielded three lists, including the official one, Zaia's personal list and the "Venetian Autonomy List" (comprising also Liga Veneta Repubblica), which obtained 16.9%, 44.6% and 2.4%, respectively. The party, with 33 seats (plus one obtained by the third list), had thus far  more than 50% of the seats in the Regional Council. After the election, Zaia unveiled his third government, composed of eight ministers, including seven "Lighisti": Elisa De Berti (Vice President, Legal Affairs, Public Works, Infrastructures and Transports), Francesco Calzavara (Planning, Budget, Patrimony and Local Government), Manuela Lanzarin (Health, Social Affairs and Social Programs), Roberto Marcato (Economic Development, Energy and Special Status for Venice), Federico Caner (EU Programs, Agriculture, Tourism and International Trade), Gianpaolo Bottacin (Environment, Climate and Civil Protection), Cristiano Corazzari (Culture, City Planning, Security, Hunting and Fishing); Elena Donazzan (Education, Formation, Labour and Equal Opportunities) represented Brothers of Italy . LV's Roberto Ciambetti was re-elected President of the Regional Council. Ideology. Liga Veneta was conceived by Franco Rocchetta and others in the late 1970s. During its first official meeting in Recoaro on 9 December 1979, Achille Tramarin, who was then elected secretary of the new party, gave a speech titled "Venetian Autonomy and Europe": "Today for Venetians the moment has come, after 113 years of Italian unitary colonisation, to take their natural and human resources back, to fight against the wild exploitation that brought poverty, emigration, pollution and uprooting from their culture". European integration was seen as an  opportunity to give Veneto its autonomy back. Rocchetta, who left the party in 1994 after a power struggle and has since become a bitter critic of his former colleagues in the name of pure Venetism, conceived the LV as a libertarian, secular and Europeanist party. The promotion the re-discovery the Republic of Venice's heritage, traditions, culture, and especially Venetian language, and opposition to the displacement of Mafia inmates in Veneto were key goals of the party since its foundation. The LV is aimed to unite all Venetians who support autonomy for Veneto and federal reform. For this reason , it tends to be a multi-ideological catch-all party, following what Umberto Bossi stated in 1982 to his early followers of Lega Lombarda: "It does not matter how old are you, what your job is and what your political tendency: what matters is that you and we are all Lombard. [...] It is as Lombards that, indeed, that we have a fundamental common goal in that face of which our division in parties should fall behind". While the bulk of the original Lega Lombarda (including Umberto Bossi, Roberto Maroni and Marco Formentini) came from the left (Bossi and Maroni were  previously active in the Italian Communist Party, Proletarian Democracy and the Greens) and conceived the party as a centre-left (and, to some extent, social-democratic) political force, the LV was characterized more as a liberal and centrist party and has always proposed a more libertarian political line. This difference reflected also its position in Venetian politics: while, in the early 1990s, the League stole votes especially from the Communists and the Italian Socialist Party, in Veneto the LV basically replaced Christian Democracy as dominant political force. In fact, even though most of the early members of the party came  from the centre-right (Christian Democracy and the Italian Liberal Party), there were also people coming from the left such as Giovanni Meo Zilio, Actionist and Socialist partisan in the Italian resistance movement, who was one of the founding fathers of the party, and Rocchetta himself, a former Republican and, later, Communist. 2010–2015 Program. In the run-up to the 2010 regional election, the party released its political platform for the 2010–2015 term. Its keywords were "innovation" and "modernity". The challenges that Veneto should face in the next decades, said the party, were to enhance "internationalization" in the era of  globalization, to overcome the traditional Venetian polycentrism and interpret Veneto as a united and cohesive region: a "European region in Italian land". The program stressed also concepts such as "Europe of the regions", "Europe of citizens", "global Veneto", "openeness toward the world", "green economy", "urban planning" in respect of the environment, "respect for diversity" and "integration" of immigrants, along with the more traditional "think globally, act locally". Along these, the core issues of the party, especially autonomism, low taxes, fight against red tape and promotion of Venetian language and culture, were also included in the program. According to the paper , a strong Veneto as that imagined by the party would be a protagonist of federal reform in Italy and Europe. The LV has opposed nuclear power plants in Veneto, citing the high population density and the fact that the region is already energetically self-sufficient. Manifesto for a new League. In April 2012 some key members from the province of Treviso, led by Giuseppe Covre and Marzio Favero, proposed a "Manifesto for the League which will be", which was soon endorsed by Roberto Maroni (see above). The text, divided into eighteen points, was aimed at preparing a new course for  the party. The proponents wanted to re-launch the federalist structure of Lega Nord, in spite of the centralisation and leadership which had long characterized it. Thus, they highlighted the centrality of members, internal democracy, open debate and frequent congresses. They also wanted a more open party, especially to intellectuals, economic forces, and associations. After many failures in Rome, the party should start building the way toward federalism "outside the Parliament", by forming alliances among regions, provinces and municipalities. The party should also adopt a different language: in fact, the proponents realized how some "xenophobic statements, calls for localistic isolation  and invocations of a token traditionalism had damaged the cause and the growth of the League. [...] Local autonomy intended as autarchy is anachronistic, while it must be conceived as a value [...] toward international openness, as the glorious Venetian history tells us!". The League should be able to talk to a larger portion of the electorate, by reclaiming "the Catholic, socialist, liberal, ecc. strains of ideas" and by "irrevocably leaving the rusty alternative between right and left behind": "For too long the League has been stuck in a contradiction. On one side it has presented itself as a movement for institutional  reform and, as such, super parties. On the other, it has allowed itself to be absorbed in the right/left dialectic. The real battle today is between idolatry of the state and federalism, between an artificial institution and the real communities. Neither with the right nor with the left: the League is above." 2015–2020 Program. In the run-up of the 2015 regional election the party did not release a platform, leaving room for Luca Zaia's "government program" for the 2015–2020 term. Consistently with Zaia's social-democratic political instincts and his fascination for Tony Blair's New Labour , the document had a special focus on labour, welfare and the reform of public services. The platform notably included a commitment to bring forward two referendums, one on autonomy and another on independence. Factions. Within the party, there are no formal factions, yet there are some unofficial groupings. Gian Paolo Gobbo and Luca Zaia have long been the leaders of the wing from Treviso, which has its roots in the original Liga Veneta and is more Venetist in character, while the Verona wing, whose standard-bearers have been Flavio Tosi, Federico Bricolo and Lorenzo Fontana, is more conservative and has  stronger links with Lega Lombarda. While "Lighisti" from Venice are usually closer to Gobbo and Zaia, those from Vicenza and Padua are set somewhere in the middle between Treviso and Verona. An ideological strain worth of mention is embodied by pure Venetists who stress issues such as Venetian identity and language: they have notably included Massimo Bitonci, Roberto Ciambetti, Stival, Giovanni Furlanetto and Nicola Finco. Gobbo was re-elected secretary in 2007 due to an agreement with Tosi, who was Gobbo's strongest rival for the leadership. At the 2012 congress Tosi defeated the Venetists' standard-bearer Bitonci, who was  supported by 43% of delegates and most MPs. In 2011 in the party were outraged when Tosi, as mayor of Verona, announced that he was going to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification and declared that Italian unity was a good thing. Gobbo promptly disavowed Tosi and confirmed that the party was opposed to any celebration. Tosi was criticised also by other party bigwigs, such as Francesca Martini, while Furlanetto proposed the ejection of Tosi from the party. In early 2012 another friction was caused by Tosi's decision to present a personal list, alongside the party's one , in the forthcoming Verona municipal election and his intention to drop its traditional ally, The People of Freedom. Not only Gobbo opposed the move by Tosi, but he also took the opportunity to describe Tosi's views on Italy and Padania as "heresy". It is difficult to say who was more conservative or liberal between Tosi and Zaia, who have often exchanged their positions within the party. Tosi was a more traditional conservative-liberal, while Zaia, while being a centrist, has resembled a green-populist position on environmental issues, nuclear power, GMOs, etc. In occasion of the 2011 referendums, Zaia  declared his support for three referenda aimed at blocking the return to nuclear energy and the privatisation of water services. Needless to say, Tosi declared himself a "keen nuclearist" and a supporter of the free market instead. At the federal level of the party, Tosi was a long-time ally of Roberto Maroni. Popular support. The party has its strongholds in the provinces of the "Pedemontana" (40–60% of the vote), that is to say the area at the feet of the Venetian Prealps. In the 2010 regional election the party did well in most of the region, but had its  best results in Luca Zaia's province of Treviso (48.5%). Treviso was followed by Vicenza (38.1%), Verona (36.1%), Belluno (32.8%), Padua (31.4%), Venice (26.1%) and Rovigo (22.7%). The party's urban strongholds were in the cities of Treviso (35.4%), Schio (34.8%), San Donà di Piave (32.8%), Bassano del Grappa (31.2%), Verona (30.4%), Belluno (27.0%), Vicenza (26.1%) and Padua (25.4%). In the 2015 general election the party, which fielded the official list and one named after Zaia, did even better: 57.3% in the province of Treviso, 45.4% in Vicenza, 42.5% in Padua, 37.9% in Venice, 35.9% in Belluno and 32.9% in  Rovigo; it did worse only in Verona, Flavio Tosi's heartland, with 28.4%. In urban areas, the party won 46.2% in Bassano del Grappa, 44.9% in Treviso, 43.7% in San Donà di Piave, 39.1% in Schio, 36.7% in Vicenza, 35.5% in Padua, 32.6% in Venice and 32.1% in Belluno. The electoral results of Liga Veneta in Veneto since 1983 are shown in the table below. Leadership. <onlyinclude> Notable members. The party has 24 deputies, 9 senators, 33 regional councillors and dozens of mayors, including those of Treviso, Castelfranco Veneto and Montebelluna. A member of Liga Veneta has served  as President of Veneto: Members of Liga Veneta have served as Vice President of Veneto: Members of Liga Veneta have served as President of the Regional Council of Veneto: Members of Liga Veneta have served as Ministers of the Italian Government: Members of Liga Veneta have served as federal president of Lega Nord: A member of Liga Veneta has served as leader of Lega Nord in the Chamber of Deputies: Members of Liga Veneta have served as leader of Lega Nord in the Senate: Members of Liga Veneta have served as head of the delegation of Lega Nord at the  European Parliament: Members of Liga Veneta have served as federal deputy secretary of Lega Nord: A member of Liga Veneta has served as federal administrative secretary of Lega Nord: In April 2012 Manuela Dal Lago was appointed member of the triumvirate who replaced Umberto Bossi at the head of Lega Nord and temporarily led the party. Luciano Gasperini was Lega Nord's candidate for President of the Republic in 1999.