South Tyrolean People's Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| South Tyrolean People's Party Südtiroler Volkspartei |
|
|---|---|
 Italian Ethnic-Minority Party |
|
| Leader | Elmar Pichler Rolle |
| Founded | May 8, 1945 |
| Headquarters | Via Brennero, 7/A 39100 Bolzano |
| Coalition | Regional |
| Political ideology | Christian Democracy, Centrism, Regionalism |
| International affiliation | none |
| European affiliation | European People's Party, European Democrat Union |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party–European Democrats |
| Official newspaper | ZIS |
| Website | www.svpartei.org |
| See also | Politics of Italy |
The South Tyrolean People's Party (Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP) was founded in 1945 and is a political party in the South Tyrol region of Italy.
The SVP campaigns on a program of increased rights for German and Ladin-speakers in the South Tyrol region, which was annexed by Italy after the First World War, to some success; the province now has wide autonomy. There is no official ideology in the party, as it is meant to represent all German and Ladin speakers in South Tyrol.
Since the first elections to the regional parliament (1948), the party has gained more than 50 percent, and is also providing most of the 116 mayors in South Tyrol.
In the 2004 European Parliamentary Election the SVP formed an electoral grouping with the Olive Tree coalition, on the understanding that an SVP candidate would be included in the list of elected if they could achieve more than 50,000 votes. In practice, Michl Ebner gained 93,169 votes and was included in the list of MEPs.
[edit] Independence controversy
In May 2006, former Italian president Francesco Cossiga, now senator for life in the Italian Senate, brought in a bill that would allow the region to hold a referendum, where voters could decide whether to stay with Italy, return to Austria, or become fully independent [1]. The proposed bill was immediately rejected in the Italian parliament, and also the South Tyrolean People's Party rejected the proposal, saying this would just create ethnic tensions again.
[edit] 2006 elections
In the 9-10 April 2006 general elections, the party was member of the winning The Union (L'Unione) and won 3 out of 315 senators and 3 out of 630 deputies, along with the Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (1 deputy).
