Sardinian Action Party

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Sardinian Action Party
Partidu Sardu – Partito Sardo d'Azione
SecretaryChristian Solinas
President
FounderEmilio Lussu
Founded17 April 1921
HeadquartersCagliari, Sardinia, Italy
NewspaperIl Solco
IdeologySardinian nationalism
Regionalism[1]
Autonomism
Social liberalism[1]
Historical:
Separatism[1]
Social democracy
Political positionCentre-right to right-wing
Historical:
Centre-left to left-wing
National affiliationLeague
Centre-right coalition
European affiliationEuropean Free Alliance (expelled in 2020)[2]
Colours  Black   Red
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 630
Senate
1 / 315
European Parliament
0 / 73
Regional Council of Sardinia
8 / 60
Regional Presidents
1 / 20
Website
www.psdaz.net

The Sardinian Action Party (Sardinian: Partidu Sardu, Italian: Partito Sardo d'Azione, PSd'Az or PSdA) is a Sardinian nationalist, regionalist[3] and separatist[4] political party in Sardinia. While being traditionally part of the Sardinian centre-left, the party has also sided with the centre-right coalition and, more recently, with the League.

The PSd'Az is one of the oldest stateless nationalist parties active in Europe that promotes autonomy towards the ideal of independence.[5][6] As such, the party was a founding member of the European Free Alliance in 1984,[7][8] but was expelled in 2020 because of its alliance with the League.[2]

Christian Solinas, who has led the party since 2015, was elected senator in the 2018 general election and President of Sardinia in the 2019 regional election, the first Sardist to do so since in 1984–1989.

History[]

The party was founded in April 1921, but soon banned under fascism, and was re-organized after World War II by Emilio Lussu, secretary for Southern Italy of the Action Party during the war, and other veterans from the Sassari brigade and anti-fascists,[7][9] a social-democratic group of the Italian resistance movement. Lussu left the party in 1948 to found the short-lived Sardinian Socialist Action Party (PSd'AzS), which joined the Italian Socialist Party in 1949, along with many other PSd'Az members.[7][10] Consequently, the PSd'Az started to cooperate with Christian Democracy and was quite a stable until the 1980s.[7]

The PSd'Az and the PSd'AzS won 10.5% and 6.6% respectively in the first regional election in 1949.[7]

After a decline in term of votes in the 1960s and 1970s, the party re-gained strength in the 1980s (13.8% in 1984 and 12.4% in 1989). Following these results, Sardist was President of Sardinia between 1984 and 1989 at the head of a five-party coalition composed also by the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and the Italian Republican Party. This was the highest point in party history: the PSd'Az was represented in the Italian Parliament from 1983 to 1994, and Melis was a MEP for the Rainbow Group from 1989 to 1994.[11]

The party was affiliated to The Olive Tree during the 1996 general election.[12] However, the party congress rejected a continuation of the alliance ahead the 2001 general election.[13]

In the 2004 Sardinian regional election the PSd'Az won 3.9% of the vote and 2 regional councillors.

In the 2006 general election leader , due to an electoral pact named Pact for the Autonomies, was a candidate of the Lega Nord (LN) for the Senate in Lombardy, but failed to get elected.

The party ran by itself in the 2008 general election, winning a mere 1.5% in the Region.[14]

In the 2009 regional election the PSd'Az joined the centre-right coalition, provoking the split of the party's left that formed the Red Moors.[7] Cappellacci won and the PSd'Az won 4.3% of the vote (having its strongholds in the traditionally left-wing Provinces of Nuoro and Carbonia-Iglesias, where it gained 7.5 and 7.1%, respectively)[15] and four regional councillors plus one (Giacomo Sanna) elected in Cappellacci's regional list.[16] The Red Moors won 2.5% and one councillor. In the 2010 provincial elections the party was strongest in Nuoro (12.8%), Sassari (6.9%), Olbia-Tempio (6.7%) and Cagliari (6.4%).[17]

In 2013 the PSd'Az broke with Cappellacci and the centre-right,[18] but re-joined the coalition in time for the 2014 regional election. In the election Cappellacci was defeated and the PSd'Az won 4.7% of the vote and two regional councillors.[19]

In the run-up of the 2018 general election the party formed once again an electoral pact with the League,[20][21][22][23] which presented itself as "Lega" all around the country. The alliance managed to get 10.8% of the vote and Christian Solinas, leader of the PSd'Az, was elected to the Senate,[24] while , a local activist of the LN,[25] was elected to the Chamber. This marked the return of the PSd'Az to the Italian Parliament after 22 years.[26] In August 2018 the party was suspended from the European Free Alliance because of its alliance with the League.[27]

In the 2019 regional election Solinas was elected President of Sardinia with 47.8% of the vote, while the PSd'Az won 9.9%.

Popular support[]

The party has failed to regain the electoral support it enjoyed upon its foundation (e.g. 36% of the popular vote in 1921 general election).[28]

The party has been mostly marginal in the Sardinan political scene since the post-war period and this marginalisation has increased with the Italian establishment of a bipolar political system in the 1990s.[29] Eve Hepburn, a political scientist, has suggested the reasons for the party's failure in getting electoral success and influence can be identified in different factors that include its ideological incoherence, its consequent erratic choices of coalition partners, its inability to adapt to multi-level politics (e.g. its inability to devise coherent strategies at the Sardinian, Italian and European level).[28]

The electoral results of the PSd'Az in regional and Chamber of Deputies elections in Sardinia since 1946 are shown in the chart below. For 1953 only the regional election's result is shown. In the general elections of 1972, 1976, 1979 and 2006 the party did not run lists for the Chamber of Deputies.

Electoral results[]

Regional Council of Sardinia[]

Election year Votes % Seats +/– Leader
1949 60,525 10.4
7 / 60
Increase 7
Piero Soggiu
1953 43,215 7.0
4 / 65
Decrease 3
Giovanni Battista Melis
1957 40,214 6.0
5 / 70
Increase 1
Pietro Mastino
1961 50,039 (with PRI) 7.2
5 / 72
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1965 44,621 (with PRI) 6.4
5 / 72
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1969 33,220 4.4
3 / 74
Decrease 2
Giovanni Battista Melis
1974 24,780 3.1
1 / 75
Decrease 2
Michele Columbu
1979 30,238 3.3
3 / 80
Increase 2
Carlo Sanna
1984 136,720 13.8
12 / 81
Increase 9
Carlo Sanna
1989 128,025 12.4
10 / 80
Decrease 2
Carlo Sanna
1994 47,000 5.1
4 / 64
Decrease 6
Giancarlo Acciaro
1999 38,422 4.5
3 / 64
Decrease 1
Antonio Delitala
2004 32,859 3.9
3 / 85
–
Giacomo Sanna
2009 35,428 4.3
4 / 80
Increase 1
Giovanni Colli
2014 31,886 4.7
3 / 60
Decrease 1
Giovanni Colli
2019 69,964 9.9
8 / 60
Increase 5
Christian Solinas

Italian Parliament[]

Chamber of Deputies
Election year Votes % Seats +/– Leader
1921 35,108 0.53
4 / 535
–
Camillo Bellieni
1924 24,059 0.34
2 / 535
Decrease 2
Salvatore Sale
1946 78,554 0.34
2 / 556
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1948 61,928 0.24
1 / 574
Decrease 1
Giovanni Battista Melis
1953 27,231 0.10
0 / 590
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1958 173,227 (with MC–PCd'I) 0.59
0 / 596
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1968 27,228 0.09
0 / 630
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1979 17,673 0.05
0 / 630
–
Carlo Sanna
1983 91,923 0.25
1 / 630
Increase 1
Carlo Sanna
1987 169,978 0.44
2 / 630
Increase 1
Carlo Sanna
1992 154,621 (with Federalism) 0.39
1 / 630
Decrease 1
Giorgio Ladu
1996 38,002 0.10
0 / 630
Decrease 1
Lorenzo Palermo
2001 34,412 (with SN) 0.09
0 / 630
–
Giacomo Sanna
2006 Into LN–MpA –
0 / 630
–
Giacomo Sanna
2008 14,856 0.04
0 / 630
–
Efisio Trincas
2013 18,585 0.05
0 / 630
–
Giovanni Colli
2018 Into League –
0 / 630
–
Christian Solinas
Senate of the Republic
Election year Votes % Seats +/– Leader
1948 65,743 0.29
1 / 237
Increase 1
Giovanni Battista Melis
1953 34,484 0.14
0 / 237
Decrease 1
Giovanni Battista Melis
1958 45,952 0.18
0 / 246
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1963 34,954 0.13
0 / 315
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1968 25,891 0.09
0 / 315
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1972 189,534 (with PCI–PSIUP) 0.63
0 / 315
–
Giovanni Battista Melis
1979 15,766 0.05
0 / 315
–
Carlo Sanna
1983 76,797 0.25
1 / 315
Increase 1
Carlo Sanna
1987 124,266 0.38
1 / 315
–
Carlo Sanna
1992 174,713 (with Federalism) 0.52
0 / 315
Decrease 1
Giorgio Ladu
1994 88,225 0.27
0 / 315
–
Giancarlo Acciaro
1996 421,331 (with The Olive Tree) 1.19
1 / 315
Increase 1
Lorenzo Palermo
2001 32,822 (with SN) 0.10
0 / 315
Decrease 1
Giacomo Sanna
2006 16,733 0.06
0 / 315
–
Giacomo Sanna
2008 15,292 0.05
0 / 315
–
Efisio Trincas
2013 18,602 0.06
0 / 315
–
Giovanni Colli
2018 Into League –
1 / 315
Increase 1
Christian Solinas

European Parliament[]

European Parliament
Election year Votes % Seats +/– Leader
1984 193,430 (with UV) 0.55
1 / 81
Increase 1
Carlo Sanna
1989 207,739 (with Federalism) 0.60
1 / 87
–
Carlo Sanna
1994 Did not run –
0 / 87
Decrease 1
Giancarlo Acciaro
1999 61,185 (with LAV–CU) 0.2
0 / 87
 –
Antonio Delitala
2004 159,098 (with LAL–LFV–UfS) 0.49
0 / 78
–
Giacomo Sanna

Leadership[]

  • Secretary: (1921–1922), (1922), (1922–1923), (1923–1925), (1925–1926), (1926–1945), (1945–1948), (1948–1951), (1951–1953), (1953–1957), (1957–1974), Michele Columbu (1974–1979), (1979–1990), (1990–1991), (1991–1992), (1992–1994), (1994), (1994–1995), (1995–1997), (1997–1999), (2000–2006), (2006–2009), (2009–2014), (2015), Christian Solinas (2015–present)
  • President: unknown (1921–unknown), (unknown–2000), (2000–2004), (2004–2006), (2006–2015), (2015–2017), (2018–present)

Symbols[]

  • Official logo

  • Electoral logo

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Sardinia/Italy". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Efa-Ale (European Free Alliance) expels the Sardinian Action Party". L'Unione Sarda. 2020.
  3. ^ John A. Agnew (2002). Place and Politics in Modern Italy. University of Chicago Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-226-01051-9.
  4. ^ Sardinian Action Party Statute - About the party: Art.1: Il “Partidu Sardu – Partito Sardo d’Azione” è la libera associazione di coloro che si propongono, attraverso l’azione politica, di affermare la sovranità del popolo sardo sul proprio territorio, e di condurre la Nazione Sarda all’indipendenza.
  5. ^ Elias (A.) et Tronconi (F.), From protest to power. Autonomist parties and the challenges of representation, Vienna, Braumüller, 2011
  6. ^ "Sardinians - World Directory of Minorities". Faqs.org.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Eve Hepburn (2010). "Explaining Failure: Sardinian Nationalism". In Eve Hepburn (ed.). New Challenges for Stateless Nationalist and Regionalist Parties. Routledge. pp. 116–121. ISBN 978-1-317-96596-1.
  8. ^ "30 years EFA" (PDF). E-f-a.org. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  9. ^ Antonio Sorge (2015). Legacies of Violence: History, Society, and the State in Sardinia. University of Toronto Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4426-2174-9.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-11-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "Mario MELIS". Europarl.europa.eu.
  12. ^ James Newell (2002). The Italian General Election of 2001: Berlusconi's Victory. Manchester University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-7190-6100-4.
  13. ^ Eve Hepburn (2010). Using Europe: Territorial Party Strategies in a Multi-level System. Manchester University Press. pp. 133–134. ISBN 978-1-84779-764-3.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-10-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "Risultati per circoscrizione-Regione Autonoma della Sardegna". Regione.sardegna.it.
  16. ^ "Elezioni del XIV Consiglio regionale e del Presidente della Regione . Proclamati Eletti Dall' Ufficio Centrale Regionale" (PDF). Regione.sardegna.it. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  17. ^ "Ministry of the Interior". Archived from the original on 2010-04-01.
  18. ^ "Sardegna Oggi: Notizie e informazione regionale". Sardegnaoggi.it.
  19. ^ "Sardegna - Elezioni Regionali del 16 febbraio 2014". Repubblica.it.
  20. ^ "Lega-Psd'Az, arriva l'accordo: Salvini a Cagliari - Politica". L'Unione Sarda.it. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  21. ^ "LEGA - PSD'AZ, I NOSTRI OBIETTIVI: 10 PUNTI PER LA SARDEGNA". Sito Ufficiale del Partidu Sardu - Partito Sardo d'Azione. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  22. ^ Salvini: "Nel 2018 Italia federale". Accordo Lega-Partito Sardo d'Azione, Affaritaliani.it
  23. ^ Rojch, Luca (23 January 2018). "Psd'Az: "Noi e la Lega? Giusto così. Proteste insignificanti" - Cronaca". la Nuova Sardegna. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  24. ^ "Parlamentari al primo mandato e uscenti che tornano a Roma: i 25 eletti". Sardiniapost.it. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  25. ^ "Sardegna Reporter - Ultime Notizie Sardegna". Sardegna Reporter. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  26. ^ "Psd'Az di nuovo in Parlamento dopo 22 anni grazie a Salvini: eletti Solinas e De Martini". Sardiniapost.it. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  27. ^ "Member Parties". EFA - European Free Alliance. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b Hepburn, E. (2009) 'Explaining Failure: the Highs and Lows of Sardinian Nationalism', Regional & Federal Studies, 19(4/5)
  29. ^ Hepburn, Eve (1 December 2009). "Explaining Failure: the Highs and Lows of Sardinian Nationalism" (PDF). Regional & Federal Studies. 19 (4–5): 595–618. doi:10.1080/13597560903310378.

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