Edelweiss (Aosta Valley)

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Edelweiss
Stella Alpina
Secretary vacant
President Maurizio Martin
Founded 25 November 2001
Preceded by Autonomists
Headquarters Via Monte Pasubio, 40
11100 Aosta
Ideology Regionalism[1]
Christian democracy[1]
Federalism
Political position Centre
European affiliation none
International affiliation none
European Parliament group no MEPs
Regional Coalition Vallée d'Aoste
Chamber of Deputies
1 / 630
Senate
0 / 315
European Parliament
0 / 73
Council of the Valley
5 / 35
Website
http://www.stella-alpina.org
Politics of Aosta Valley
Political parties
Elections

Edelweiss (Italian: Stella Alpina , SA) is a regionalist, Christian-democratic and federalist Italian political party active in Aosta Valley, Italy. Its long-time leaders are Rudi Marguerettaz and Maurizio Martin.

History

SA was founded in 2001 by the merger of the Autonomists and the Autonomist Federation. The Autonomists were basically the Valdostan section of the Italian People's Party, one of the successors of Christian Democracy, while the Autonomist Federation was formed by former Autonomists Democrats Progressives, along with former Socialists and Republicans.

In the 2003 regional election, SA scored 19.8%[2] and got elected seven regional councillors.[3] In the 2003–2008 term, the party controlled five seats in the Regional Council. Of the five regional councillors, four are former members of Christian Democracy and one is a former Republican. In 2004 the Autonomist Federation re-gained its independence from SA.[4]

From 2001 to 2006, SA was represented in the Italian Chamber of Deputies by Ivo Collé, who was elected with the support of the Aosta Valley coalition (VdA), formed also by the Valdostan Union (UV) and the Autonomist Federation (FA).

In the 2006 general election SA's Marco Viérin was candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, but the VdA was soundly defeated by the centre-left Autonomy Liberty Democracy (ALD) list.

In the 2008 regional election SA, which included four candidates of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) in its list, won 11.4% of the vote and four regional councillors (out of 35), while the three-party regionalist coalition won 62.0% and a large majority, composed of 22 regional councillors.[5] No candidate of UDC was elected.

In the 2013 general election Rudi Marguerettaz, secretary of SA since 2001, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies.[6] Soon after the election, Marguerettaz chose to team up with Lega Nord and became vice president of the "Lega Nord and Autonomies" parliamentary group.[7][8] Marguerettaz stepped down from party secretary in order to perform at his best his new office in Rome and the party was led by a provisional executive.[9]

For the 2013 regional election the party confirmed its alliance with UV and SA, and formed a joint list with Lega Nord Valle d'Aosta.[10][11][12] In an election in which UV lost a quarter of its votes and FA its entire representation in the Regional Council, SA increased its share of vote to 12.2% and its number of regional councillors to five.[13][14] Thanks to SA's result, the regionalist coalition retained its absolute majority in the Council.

In March 2015 Marguerettaz broke ranks with Lega Nord and joined the "Linguistic Minorities" sub-group within the Mixed Group, formed by the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) and the Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (PATT).[15][16]

Leadership

References

External links