History
The party was established in 1990 as Lega Friuli by a group of leading members of the Friuli Movement, including Roberto Visentin, Pietro Fontanini, Rinaldo Bosco, Sergio Cecotti and Alessandra Guerra. After that the Friuli Movement decided not join Lega Nord, they formed Lega Friuli in order to join. Visentin was the founding and longstanding leader of the party until 1999, before leaving it altogether in 2001.
LNF members were President or Vice President of the Region (1993–2003), President of the province of Pordenone (1995–1999), President of the province of Udine (1995–1999), mayor of Pordenone (1993–2001) and mayor of Udine (1998–2003). The party was the region's largest at the 1993 regional election (26.7%) and the 1996 general election (23.2%). [1]
In 2001 Lega Nord Friuli was merged with Lega Nord Trieste to form a united regional section. At the time the party suffered many splits and a strong decline in term of votes, especially if compared to neighbouring Liga Veneta.
In the 2003 regional election Guerra was candidate for President of the House of Freedoms coalition. She was defeated by Riccardo Illy and the party gained only 9.3% of the vote. Between 2001 and 2007 Visentin, Bosco, Cecotti, Fontanini, Guerra, Giuseppe Zoppolato (national secretary from 2000 to 2003) and Marco Pottino (national secretary from 2005 to 2007) left or were ejected in party struggles. Guerra joined the Democratic Party in 2009, [2] later switched to the Federation of the Greens [3] and finally joined the left-wing, pacifist Peace Land Dignity list for the 2024 EP election. [4] [5]
In 2007 Fontanini was re-integrated in the party and in 2008 he was elected President of the Province of Udine and national secretary of the LNFVG. [6] This represented a sort of return to normality for the party, which won 13.0% of the vote in the general election. [7] At the 2009 European Parliament election the party won 17.5% of the vote, [8] its best score in more than a decade. Moreover, from 2008 to 2013 the party was part of the regional government led by Renzo Tondo of The People of Freedom.
In 2012 Fontanini, who was not able to unite a party divided in too many factions (notably including those led by Claudio Violino and Enzo Bortolotti), stepped down from national secretary. [6] [9] Matteo Piasente was elected in his place with the support of the 58.8% of delegates during a party congress. Fontanini, who grudgingly favoured Piasente, did not even take part to the congress, [10] [11] [12] but nevertheless continued to be a leading member.
In the 2013 regional election the LNFVG obtained a mere 8.3% of the vote and just three regional councillors, due to Tondo's defeat.
Soon after an expenses scandal, involving Regional Council floor leaders Danilo Narduzzi and Mara Piccin, emerged and the party looked increasingly divided among supporters of Piasente, including Violino and Narduzzi (who promptly resigned from deputy national secretary), Massimiliano Fedriga and Fontanini, [13] [14] who asked Piasente to resign. [15] He actually stepped down in late June and was replaced by commissioner Gianpaolo Dozzo, [16] who strove to preserve party unity. [17]
In 2014, at a congress in Udine, Fedriga was unanimously elected national secretary, the first hailing from the Venetian-speaking Trieste in party's history. [18] [19]
In 2015–2017 Cecotti and Visentin were founding members of the centr-left Pact for Autonomy. Visentin would also become president of the Autonomies and Environment Pact, a network of regionalist and green parties, and vice president of the European Free Alliance.
In the 2018 regional election Fedriga was elected President with 57.1% of the vote and the party obtained 34.9% of the vote.
In the 2023 regional election Fedriga was re-elected President with 64.2% of the vote and the combined score of the party's list and Fedriga's personal list was 36.8%.
