Ticino League
German nameLiga der Tessiner
French nameLigue des Tessinois
Italian nameLega dei Ticinesi
Founded17 January 1991
HeadquartersVia Monte Boglia 3,
CH-6900 Lugano
Membership (2015)1,500[1]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing[5][6]
ColoursBlue, Red
National Council
1 / 200
Council of States
0 / 46
Cantonal Executives
2 / 5
[lower-alpha 1]
Cantonal legislatures
18 / 90
[lower-alpha 2]
Website
lega-dei-ticinesi.ch
Swiss Federal Council
Federal Chancellor
Federal Assembly
Council of States (members)
National Council (members)
Voting

The Ticino League (Italian: Lega dei Ticinesi) is a regionalist,[7] national-conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino.

The party was founded in 1991 by entrepreneur Giuliano Bignasca and journalist Flavio Maspoli.[4] After some public campaigning in the Sunday newspaper Il Mattino della Domenica against political power and use of public money, Bignasca and Maspoli founded the Ticino League to continue the fight at the political level. Bignasca (1945–2013) was the League's "president for life".

The League is one of four major parties in the canton, alongside the Liberal Radical Party (PLR), the Democratic People's Party (PPD), and the Swiss Socialist Party (PS). Since 1991, the party has been represented in the National Council and in the five-member cantonal executive of Ticino (the Council of State, Consiglio di Stato) with two seats. In the 90-seat Ticino legislature, (the Grand Council, Gran Consiglio) the party has 18 seats.

At the 2011 federal election, the party won 0.8% of the national popular vote and secured 2 out of 200 seats in the National Council (the first chamber of the Swiss parliament), doubling their representation compared to the single seat they held in 2007 with 0.5% of the vote.[8] In the 2015 election, the Ticino League slightly increased their share of the national vote to 1.0% and kept their two seats in parliament.[9] The party is not represented in the Council of States nor on the Federal Council.

The 2019 Swiss federal election cost the League one of its representatives in the National Council as Roberta Pantani was unable to hold her seat. Lorenzo Quadri was re-elected as the League’s sole representative in the Parliament.[10] The League formed an electoral list with the SVP for the 2023 Swiss federal election;[11] the SVP was seen as gaining support at the League's expense.[12][13]

Ideology

In the Federal Assembly, the League sits with the Swiss People's Party (UDC) and commentators see it as the Swiss Italian equivalent of the UDC[14][15] (although the UDC has a cantonal section, as well as seats in the Grand Council of Ticino). A more notable political position of the League is its support for banning the Burqa, which it achieved in 2015.[14]

The League defines itself as neither a left or a right-wing party but is generally characterised as right-wing populist. It is also strongly eurosceptic, supporting Swiss sovereignty and reduced immigration.[16] It also argues for the protection of Swiss and Ticino national identity, wants a more friendly environment for small businesses and policies to protect the elderly and more vulnerable members of society.[17]

Although ideologically close to the UDC, the League has taken a more moderate posture on gay rights and voted in favour of the Marriage For All bill which open the process for legalization of same-sex marriage in Switzerland. The party took a neutral stance during the 2021 Swiss same-sex marriage referendum.[18]

The League supports continued Ticino membership in Switzerland.[15] However, it supports the project of Insubria,[15] and it has some ties with the regional and federalist northern Italian rightist party Lega Nord.[15]

Election results

National Council

Election Votes  % Seats +/-
1991 28,290 1.4% (#11)
2 / 200
 New
1995 17,940 0.9% (#14)
1 / 200
 Decrease 1
1999 17,118 0.9% (#11)
2 / 200
 Increase 1
2003 7,304 0.4% (#14)
1 / 200
 Decrease 1
2007 13,031 0.6% (#11)
1 / 200
 Steady 0
2011 19,657 0.8% (#9)
2 / 200
 Increase 1
2015 24,713 1.0% (#10)
2 / 200
 Steady 0
2019 18,187 0.8% (#12)
1 / 200
 Decrease 1
2023 14,160 0.6% (#10)
1 / 200
 Steady 0

Literature

  • Mazzoleni, Oscar (2005). Multi-Level Populism and Centre-Periphery Cleavage in Switzerland: The Case of the Lega dei Ticinesi. Vol. Challenges to Consensual Politics: Democracy, Identity, and Populist Protest in the Alpine Region. Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang. pp. 209–228.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Total number of seats represents the Ticino Council of State, not the total number of cantonal executive seats in Switzerland.
  2. ↑ Total number of seats represents the Grand Council of Ticino, not the total number of cantonal parliament seats in Switzerland.

References

  1. ↑ The Swiss Confederation — A Brief Guide. Federal Chancellery. 2015. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Switzerland". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Nationales Forschungsprogramm 40+".
  4. 1 2 3 4 Ghiringhelli, Andrea: Ticino League in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 10 March 2017.
  5. ↑ Heiko Borchert (2013). "Switzerland and Europe's Security Architecture: The Rocky Road from Isolation to Cooperation". In Erich Reiter; Heinz Gärtner (eds.). Small States and Alliances. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 168. ISBN 978-3-662-13000-1.
  6. ↑ The Swiss Confederation – a brief guide. Switzerland: Federal Chancellery, Communication Support, Swiss Confederation. 2016. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Damir Skenderovic (2009). The Radical Right in Switzerland: Continuity and Change, 1945–2000. Berghahn Books. pp. 114–122. ISBN 978-1-84545-580-4.
  8. ↑ "Nationalrat 2007".
  9. ↑ Bundesamt für Statistik. "Nationalratswahlen: Übersicht Schweiz". Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  10. ↑ "La Lega si lecca le ferite, Quadri in lacrime". Corriere del Ticino (in Italian). 2019-10-20.
  11. ↑ Niedermann, Marcel (10 August 2023). "Tessiner SVP mischt den Status quo auf". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  12. ↑ Thürkauf, Karoline (27 October 2023). "Die SVP gräbt der einst stolzen Lega dei Ticinesi das Wasser ab". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  13. ↑ Thürkauf, Karoline (7 June 2022). "Die rechtspopulistische Lega dei Ticinesi ist in der Krise". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  14. 1 2 Schindler, John R. (July 12, 2016). "Swiss Italians Say No to the Burqa". Observer Media. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Arroque, Stefano (June 1, 2016). "A Restive Canton: The Rise of Ticino's Own Lega". nationalia.info. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  16. ↑ Mombelli, Armando (July 25, 2015). "Small Parties of Protest and Principle". Swissinfo. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Our guidelines – The Decalogue of the Lega dei Ticinesi". Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  18. ↑ "Schlussabstimmung" (PDF) (in German and French). Parliament of Switzerland. 18 December 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
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