Background and foundation The origins of Venetian identity and
Venetian nationalism lie in the
Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic, which lasted eleven centuries from 697 to 1797, being one of the first modern republics of the world. After Veneto's annexation by Italy in 1866 and especially right after
World War I calls for Venetian autonomy came from both left and right of the political spectrum. Early Venetists included
Guido Bergamo, a member of the
Chamber of Deputies for the
Italian Republican Party, and
Italico Corradino Cappellotto, a member of the Chamber for the
Italian People's Party who launched the first full-fledged Venetist party,
Lion of Saint Mark, which obtained 6.1% of the vote in the
province of Treviso in the
1921 general election. Venetist ideas made a comeback in the 1960s, when the
Venetian Regionalist Autonomous Movement (MARV) campaigned for the institution of the
ordinary regions (including Veneto), prefigured by the
Constitution of Italy. The ordinary regions were finally instituted in 1970. Since then, Veneto experienced a dramatic economic boom due to a new production model based on small enterprises. The high burden of taxes and bureaucracy, associated with the increasing frustration with the inefficient and overstaffed Italian government in Rome, that continued to channel northern taxes as massive development aid to the corrupt and backward southern regions, was the key element, along with linguistic and historical claims, that led to the formation of Liga Veneta. Liga Veneta was promoted in 1978 by
Franco Rocchetta, a
Venetian philologist and president of the Venetian Philological Society who had been talking of a "Venetian league" since 1968. The party constitution, modelled on those of the
Valdostan Union and the
Radical Party, was officially signed by 14 founding members on 16 January 1980 in
Padua and
Achille Tramarin was elected national secretary. In December 1979, during the party's first informal congress, named "farther from
Rome, closer to
Europe",
Early years and splits (1980–1989) In the
1983 general election the LV gained 4.3% in Veneto: Tramarin was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and
Graziano Girardi to the
Senate. In the
Pedemontana, the area of the
Padanian-Venetian Plain at the feet of the
Venetian Prealps, the LV became the second largest party after then-dominant
Christian Democracy (DC). This party would be mostly damaged from the rise of the LV as both parties concurred for the support of the middle class. DC regional leader
Antonio Bisaglia had proposed a regional party modelled on the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria, but opposition from Rome and his sudden death stopped the plan. However, a few months later, a power struggle took place within the LV and the winner was Rocchetta, who had been behind the scenes up to that moment, but was disappointed for his missed election. Tramarin was replaced as national secretary by
Marilena Marin, Rocchetta's future wife, and, expelled by Marin, would form the splinter
Liga Veneta Serenissima (LVS) in 1984. In the
1984 European Parliament election the LV gained 3.3% in Veneto, not enough to win any seats. In the
1985 regional election the party obtained 3.7% and two regional councillors:
Ettore Beggiato and Rocchetta. Tramarin's LVS won a mere 0.2% of the vote and, since then, Rocchetta and Marin have had the party in their hands. That of the LVS was only one of several splits occurred over the decade. The first had been
Giulio Pizzati's
Liga Federativa Veneta in 1983, while another occurred in 1987: some hardliners, led by
Luigi Faccia and
Flavio Contin, left the party and launched the
Venetian Most Serene Government, which would organise the
St Mark's Campanile's "assault" in 1997 (see
Venetian nationalism). However, the two most damaging splits were those of the
Union of the Venetian People (UPV), formed by Beggiato (who was joined by Tramarin and Girardi) and that of the
Veneto Autonomous Region Movement (MVRA). After the splits, the only counterweight to Rocchetta–Marin within the LV was thus represented by the Treviso wing, which then started to gain influence, under the leadership of
Gian Paolo Gobbo and
Mauro Michielon. In the next elections, the LV and the UPV had similar showings.
Foundation of Lega Nord (1989–1994) Rocchetta and Marin managed to forge an alliance with
Umberto Bossi's
Lega Lombarda (LL) for the
1989 European Parliament election,
Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord, in which the LV won a mere 1.7% of the vote and no seats. In 1989–1990, ahead of the
1990 regional elections, the LV took part in the process of federating the northern regionalist parties, including the LL,
Autonomist Piedmont,
Ligurian Union,
Emilia-Romagna League and
Tuscan Alliance. In the
1990 regional election the LV and the UPV scored 5.9% and 1.9%, respectively. In the 1991 local elections, the UPV surpassed the LV. Some attempts to merge the two parties into one failed, but from that point, thanks to the alliance with Bossi, LV's rise would be unstoppable. In February 1991, the LV finally was merged with the five parties of the LL–AN alliance and newly-formed parties in the northern autonomous regions and provinces (the future
Lega Vallée d'Aoste,
Lega Alto Adige Südtirol,
Lega Trentino,
Lega Friuli and
Lega Trieste) into
Lega Nord (LN). Since then, the LV has been the "national" section of the LN in Veneto. Bossi was elected federal secretary and Rocchetta federal president. Thanks to the federal structure of the LN and to its ideology (according to which
Padania is a country formed of different nations: Veneto,
Lombardy,
Piedmont, etc.), the LV retained much of its autonomy, but occasionally tensions occurred with "the Lombards", causing splits. In the
1992 general election, the LN scored 8.7% throughout Italy and the LV won 17.8% of the vote in Veneto and was second only to the DC, returning to the Chamber and the Senate after five years, this time with several elects. The UPV and the MVRA both won 1.5% of the vote, while
Lega Autonomia Veneta (LAV), formed by the former
Socialist mayor of
Venice Mario Rigo, got 4.7% of the vote. The Venetist movement, divided as ever, however gained the support of about a quarter of Venetian voters.
Heyday and further splits (1994–1998) In the
1994 general election the LV won 21.6% of the vote in Veneto (the LAV took 3.2%) and three of its members joined the
first Berlusconi government: Rocchetta was undersecretary of Foreign Affairs,
Mariella Mazzetto of Education and
Giovanni Meo Zilio (a former
Socialist partisan in the
Italian resistance movement), of University and Research. Between 1994 and 1995 the LV was also part of the
regional government for the first time, with Gian Paolo Gobbo as vice president. In July 1994 Marin was replaced by
Fabrizio Comencini as national secretary of the party, while Gobbo was elected national president. Shortly after, in September, Rocchetta and Marin left the party in disagreement with Bossi and the new Venetian leadership, founding "Liga Nathion Veneta" (LNV). Rocchetta was replaced by
Stefano Stefani, a leading member of the LV, as federal president of Lega Nord in February 1995. The exit of Rocchetta and Marin made possible the comeback of Beggiato into the party. Thanks to this the LV did not suffer a major setback in the
1995 regional election: 17.4% and 9 regional councillors elected. In the meantime, the LNV quickly disappeared and Rocchetta briefly joined other parties. In the
1996 general election Bossi led Lega Nord to its strongest showing in a general election: with 10.1% of the vote, the party, which fielded lists only in
northern Italy, became the fourth largest of the country. Comencini's Liga Veneta was the strongest national section of the League: it gained 29.3% of the vote in Veneto, 19 deputies and 9 senators, mostly elected in single-seat constituencies, in which the party, favoured by
split-ticket voting, gained a total 32.8% of the vote. The party had become strong also in local politics. In
1994 the party had won the mayorship of
Treviso with
Giancarlo Gentilini, and
one year later it gained control of three provinces:
Padua with
Renzo Sacco,
Verona with
Antonio Borghesi and
Treviso with
Giovanni Mazzonetto. In
1997 the party won also in the
province of Vicenza with
Manuela Dal Lago, while
Luca Zaia was elected President of the Province of Treviso, replacing Mazzonetto, in
1998. Also in
1998, Gentilini was re-elected mayor of Treviso. In 1998 Comencini left the party over disagreements with Bossi and formed a brand-new
Venetist party named
Liga Veneta Repubblica (later named ''Veneti d'Europa
, Liga Fronte Veneto
and finally Liga Veneta Repubblica'' again). Seven regional councillors out of nine followed Comencini into the new party, while Gobbo took over as national secretary of the LV, along with a new national president,
Giuseppe Ceccato (who left the party in 1999). In the
1999 provincial elections the party lost the provinces of Padua and Verona.
Decline and resurgence (1998–2006) In 2000 the party joined at the regional level (as Lega Nord did countrywide) the
centre-right coalition, whose main member parties were the centre-right
Forza Italia (FI) and the right-wing
National Alliance (AN). In the
2000 regional election the party took 12.0% of the vote, thus recovering form the 1998 schism (the combined score of Veneti d'Europa and
Fronte Marco Polo, another offshoot, was 3.7%). After the election, the party joined the
second government led by
Giancarlo Galan of FI. In the
2001 general election the LV won a mere 10.2% in Veneto, with 9 deputies and 4 senators elected, all in single-seat constituencies, thanks to the alliance with FI within the
House of Freedoms coalition. After the election, Dozzo and Stefani joined the
second Berlusconi government as undersecretaries of Agriculture and Industry, respectively. In the
2002 provincial elections the party won for the second time in a row in
Vicenza and
Treviso. The province of Treviso confirmed itself as the most-
leghista province of Italy and Zaia was re-elected Provincial President with more than 40% in the first round and with almost 70% in the run-off, with the party standing alone. Also in 2002 LV's
Luciano Gasperini was elected federal president of Lega Nord. In a party congress in
Vicenza, Gobbo was re-elected national secretary and Dal Lago was elected national president. In
2003 Gobbo was also elected mayor of Treviso. In the
2005 regional election the LV gained 14.7% of the vote, despite the presence of other two Venetist parties (
North-East Project and Liga Fronte Veneto, 5.4% and 1.2% respectively), and was decisive for Galan's third victory. After the election, the LV joined the
third Galan government, with Zaia Vice President of the Region and minister of Agriculture and Tosi minister of Health. In the
2006 general election however, the party scored 11.1% and got elected 5 deputies and 3 senators. It was the worst result in terms of elected members in the
Italian Parliament since 1987, due to the narrow victory of the
centre-left coalition led by
Romano Prodi, winning the majority-premium for the Chamber of Deputies, and to the presence of North-East Project (2.7%) and of Liga Fronte Veneto (0.7%). In a
provincial election later that year
Leonardo Muraro, who had succeeded to Zaia, was elected President of the Province of Treviso and the LV scored 29.2% (combined result of party list, 15.6%, and Zaia's personal list, 13.6%), despite a good result by the rival North-East Project (11.6%).
Road to the leadership of Veneto (2006–2010) In 2007 Tosi was
elected mayor of
Verona by a landslide (60.8% against the 33.9% of incumbent
Paolo Zanotto), while in the
provincial election of Vicenza Attilio Schneck succeeded to Dal Lago as President (60.0%, largely ahead of her main challenger,
Pietro Collareda, who stopped at 17.2%). Both Tosi, who was the second
leghista to become mayor of a big city after
Marco Formentini in
Milan between 1993 and 1997, and Schneck were supported by the House of Freedoms coalition, but the LV had a good result in both races: in Vicenza it garnered 19.0% of the vote, while in Verona came first with 28.4% (combined score of party list, 12.0%, and Tosi's personal list, 16.4%). In June 2007, Tosi was replaced as regional minister by
Francesca Martini. In the
2008 general election the LV won a surprising 27.1% in Veneto, its best result since the
1996 general election, getting 16 deputies and 7 senators elected. Meanwhile, Gobbo was re-elected mayor of Treviso with 50.4% of the vote, twice the score of his main opponent. The combined result of the LV and Giancarlo Gentilini's personal list was 35.4%. Subsequently, Zaia became
minister of Agriculture and Martini undersecretary of Health in the
fourth Berlusconi government, while
Federico Bricolo became floor leader of Lega Nord in the Senate. Zaia and Martini were thus replaced in the regional government by
Franco Manzato and
Sandro Sandri, respectively. In July 2008 the party held its national congress in Padua. Gobbo was re-elected for the fourth time national secretary, while Tosi replaced Dal Lago as national president. Tosi appeared to be also the standard-bearer of the party in view of the 2010 regional election, along with Zaia. In the
2009 European Parliament election the LV confirmed its strength, by gaining 28.4% and three MEPs:
Lorenzo Fontana, a rising star from Verona,
Giancarlo Scottà and
Mara Bizzotto. The party also won two more provinces,
Venice, then a stronghold of the left, with
Francesca Zaccariotto, and
Belluno with
Gianpaolo Bottacin.
2010 regional election and aftermath (2010–2012) In December 2009
The People of Freedom (PdL), formed by the merger of FI and AN, determined that the coalition candidate in the
2010 regional election would be a
leghista. Subsequently, the national council of Liga Veneta nominated Zaia for president. Tosi, who, as party president, presided the council, tried to be himself the candidate, and others proposed instead Manzato. However, Zaia had a broader support than Tosi and was unanimously chosen by the council. In the election Zaia was elected President of Veneto by a landslide, with 60.2% of the vote against 29.1% of his foremost opponent,
Giuseppe Bortolussi of the centre-left coalition centred around the new
Democratic Party (PD). The election was a triumph for the LV, which was by far the largest party in the region with 35.2% of the vote, up from 14.7% of five years before, and got 20 seats in the Regional Council, up from 11. Zaia was also the most voted President of Veneto since direct elections were introduced in 1995. After the election, Zaia appointed an
executive comprising six party members, a majority of whom were
tosiani:
Roberto Ciambetti (Budget and Local Government),
Luca Coletto (Health),
Maurizio Conte (Environment),
Marino Finozzi (Tourism and International Trade), Franco Manzato (Agriculture) and
Daniele Stival (Venetian Identity and Civil Protection). In the
2011 provincial election of Treviso Muraro was easily re-elected President. The LV won 40.8% of the vote (combined result of party list, 29.6%, and Muraro's personal list, 11.4%), which was an 11.6% gain since the previous provincial election in 2006, but also a 7.7% loss from the 2010 regional election. In late 2011, after the fall of the fourth Berlusconi government, Lega Nord abandoned the alliance with the PdL. Perceiving that the party was entering a crisis,
Giuseppe Covre (a former mayor of
Oderzo and MP) and
Marzio Favero (mayor of
Montebelluna and philosopher) proposed a "Manifesto for the League which will be". In its call for a "cultural revolution" and for a bottom-up restructuring of the party, the document was interpreted as a call for a new leadership, both at national and federal level. All throughout 2011 the faction around Tosi, close to
Roberto Maroni at the federal level, won most provincial congresses in Veneto, including that of Treviso.
Party's renewal and reform (2012–2015) In April 2012 a corruption scandal hit the "magic circle" around Bossi, who resigned from federal secretary of Lega Nord after 21 years. This had consequences also in Veneto: a national congress was scheduled for 2–3 June 2012 and, after 14 years, Gobbo decided to step down from secretary. Tosi, just re-elected mayor of Verona with 57.4% of the vote (three times his closest opponent
Michele Bertucco, who got a mere 22.8%), started his bid for the party's national leadership.
Massimo Bitonci, a darling of Venetists and long-time rival of Tosi, was chosen as joint candidate by Venetists and Gobbo's loyalists. On 3 June 2012 Tosi was elected secretary with 57% of the vote (236 delegates out of 414), while Bitonci had 43% (178 delegates). On 9 June the LV's national council elected
Luca Baggio, an ally of Tosi, as national president. Zaia warned Tosi that if he were not to be a unifying leader a split might occur. In July 2012 Maroni was elected federal secretary, without challengers, during a federal congress presided by Zaia. The Venetian delegates elected also four members to the federal council: Finozzi (
tosiano), Bitonci (anti-Tosi), Stival (
tosiano) and Dal Lago (independent). A few days later Maroni appointed
Federico Caner, who was supported by both Tosi and Gobbo, as federal deputy secretary. As early as in May 2013 Caner was replaced by Tosi, who dominated the party, despite internal opposition At the
2013 general election the LV stopped at 10.5%, almost a record low, resulting in just 5 deputies and 5 senators. Tosi considered this a consequence of the renewed alliance with the PdL (instrumental to Maroni's
election as
President of Lombardy), while many party bigwigs, including Zaia, criticised his leadership, management of the campaign and selection of candidates. Most provincial leaders resigned or were deposed by Tosi, who appointed loyalists. In April the LV's national council, instructed by Tosi, expelled 35 party members (mostly Venetists or old-guard
bossiani), including two regional councillors and a former deputy. In August a group of dissidents, led by
Corrado Callegari, a former deputy, formed
Veneto First, which became a separate party in January 2014 and welcomed a third councillor in February 2015. In the
2013 municipal elections the party lost the mayorship of Treviso after 19 years, as
Giancarlo Gentilini, who had been mayor from 1994 to 2003, before Gobbo, surrendered to Democrat
Giovanni Manildo 55.5% to 44.5%. However, one year later, in the
2014 municipal elections Bitonci was elected mayor of the much bigger city of
Padua, a Democratic stronghold, by defeating the incumbent
Ivo Rossi 53.5% to 46.5%. The party thus governed two of the three largest cities of Veneto, Verona and Padua. Finally, in the
2014 European Parliament election the LV gained 15.2% and two MEPs, Tosi (who showed his electoral strength, but was soon replaced by then loyalist Lorenzo Fontana) and Mara Bizzotto.
Road to the 2015 regional election In the run-up of the
2015 regional election the party was quite divided on alliances and strategies. Zaia wanted to continue the alliance with the new
Forza Italia and the
New Centre-Right (the two parties emerged from the break-up of the PdL) and to reinforce it with the creation of a "Zaia List", Tosi wanted the party to run with the sole support of the "Zaia List" and a "Tosi List", while
Matteo Salvini, who succeeded to Maroni as federal secretary in 2013, kept an open mind only on Forza Italia and opposed, along with Zaia, any notion of a "Tosi List". Furthermore, while Zaia, supported by Salvini, wanted to renovate the party's group in the Regional Council (in order to get rid of some of his ministers who happened to be
tosiani) and have a final say on the compilation of the party's slates, Tosi, who defended the position of long-time regional councillors and ministers, claimed his authority and the autonomy of the LV in relation to the federal party. In March the struggle between Tosi and Zaia–Salvini led the former to threaten a run in competition with Zaia in the regional election and Lega Nord's federal council to appoint Dozzo as a mediator between the two contenders. The internal clashes led three regional councillors to quit the party in the Regional Council:
Vittorino Cenci joined Veneto First, All three disagreed with a perceived party's rightward shift under Salvini, who had exchanged positionment with Tosi, while Cenci contested also Tosi and the party's engagement in
southern politics through
Us with Salvini (NcS). Subsequently, Salvini ejected Tosi on the grounds that the latter had refused to ditch his think tank, named "Let's Rebuild the Country", and appointed Dozzo commissioner for the LV. Consequently, Tosi decided to run for President against Zaia. Besides Baggio and Toscani, four more regional councillors — regional minister Daniele Stival and
Giuseppe Stoppato, who formed, along with former Democrat
Diego Bottacin, a group named "
Toward North–Venetian People", regional minister Maurizio Conte and
Andrea Bassi), three deputies, three senators and the President of the Province of Treviso Leonardo Muraro followed Tosi, while regional minister Finozzi and Mara Bizzotto
MEP, chose not to. In the meantime, Venetian Commitment changed its name into "
Tosi List for Veneto" (LTV).
2015 regional election The 2015 regional election was a triumph for Zaia, who was re-elected with 50.1% of the vote, and Liga Veneta, which obtained 40.9% of the vote (combined result of official party list, 17.8%, and Zaia's personal list, 23.1%). Tosi and the two lists connected to the LTV won 11.9% and 7.1%, respectively, while other regionalist parties (
Independence We Veneto,
Venetian Independence,
North-East Union,
Autonomous Veneto Project and Veneto Confederal State) gained another 6.3% in what was the best result ever for both Venetist parties, which controlled the majority of the Regional Council for the first time, and Liga Veneta itself, which obtained 24 seats out of 51 in it. After the election, Zaia unveiled his
second government, composed of ten ministers, including nine
lighisti:
Gianluca Forcolin (Vice President, Budget and Local Government), Luca Coletto (Health and Social Programs),
Roberto Marcato (Economic Development and Energy),
Elisa De Berti (Publick Works, Infrastructures and Transports),
Giuseppe Pan (Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing),
Manuela Lanzarin (Social Affairs), Federico Caner (EU Programs, Tourism and International Trade), Gianpaolo Bottacin (Environment and Civil Protection) and
Cristiano Corazzari (Culture, City Planning and Security);
Elena Donazzan (Education and Labour), a former AN member, represented FI.
Transition years (2016–2020) In February 2016, during a national congress,
Gianantonio Da Re, a long-time
lighista from the province of Treviso, affiliate of Gobbo and now close to Zaia, was elected national secretary. Da Re's election represented a return to normality after the traumatic leadership and ousting of Tosi. Subsequently, Bitonci was appointed national president by the party's national council and, contextually, Fontana was appointed deputy federal secretary by Salvini. After Salvini's re-election as LN federal secretary in the
2017 leadership election (with overwhelming support from Venetians, still grateful for Tosi's ousting), at the party's federal congress on 21 May 2017 three LV members (Fontana, Marcato and
Erik Umberto Pretto) were elected to the federal council. In the
2018 general election the party obtained 32.2% of the vote, its best result ever in a general election, and, under a new electoral law that had re-introduced single-seat constituencies, had 23 deputies (including Bitonci, who had been defeated in the early
2017 municipal election in Padua) and 9 senators elected. After months of negotiations, the LN formed a coalition government with the
Five Star Movement (M5S), under Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte. Two LV members were appointed ministers in the
government:
Erika Stefani at Regional Affairs and Autonomies, and
Lorenzo Fontana at Family and Disability. In the
2019 European Parliament election the party reached 49.9% of the vote. Following the formation of
Lega per Salvini Premier and the 2019 federal congress of the LN, after which the latter became practically inactive, in February 2020 the LV was re-established as
Liga Veneta per Salvini Premier in order to become the regional section of the new party. The founding members of the new LV were Zaia, Fontana, Marcato, Bitonci,
Erika Stefani and
Nicola Finco. In November Fontana, who had been commissioner for the party since Da Re's election to the
European Parliament in 2019, was replaced by 28-year-old
Alberto Stefani.
2020 regional election The
regional election, held in September 2025, was, even more, a triumph for Zaia, who was re-elected for a third conservative term with 76.8% of the vote. Liga Veneta fielded three lists, including the official one, Zaia's personal list and the "Venetian Autonomy List" (comprising also
Liga Veneta Repubblica), which obtained 16.9%, 44.6% and 2.4%, respectively. The party, with 33 seats (plus one obtained by the third list), had thus far more than 50% of the seats in the Regional Council. After the election, Zaia unveiled his
third government, composed of eight ministers, including seven
lighisti:
Elisa De Berti (Vice President, Legal Affairs, Public Works, Infrastructures and Transports),
Francesco Calzavara (Planning, Budget, Patrimony and Local Government),
Manuela Lanzarin (Health, Social Affairs and Social Programs),
Roberto Marcato (Economic Development, Energy and Special Status for Venice),
Federico Caner (EU Programs, Agriculture, Tourism and International Trade),
Gianpaolo Bottacin (Environment, Climate and Civil Protection),
Cristiano Corazzari (Culture, City Planning, Security, Hunting and Fishing);
Elena Donazzan (Education, Formation, Labour and Equal Opportunities), representing
Brothers of Italy (FdI). Due to the party's dominance,
Roberto Ciambetti was re-elected President of the Regional Council and
Nicola Finco was elected as one of his two vice presidents.
Re-organisation and discontents (2020–2025) Despite the LV's strong showing in the regional election, the federal party had been suffering a decline in popular support since Salvini's decision to leave the Italian government in August 2019 and its replacement with a centre-left
second Conte government. The
2022 general election was dominated by FdI, as happened countrywide, and the LV was reduced to 14.5% of the vote (–17.7pp from 2018), fueling internal conflicts and, especially, clashes between the federal party and the regional base. Despite its electoral losses, Lega joined the
Meloni government and was rewarded with the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, which was given to Lorenzo Fontana. In the run-up of the regional congress, to be held in June 2023,
Roberto Marcato led the challenge of the party's traditional wing. However, Marcato retired from the race when
Franco Manzato, a centrist figure representing mainly the party's old guard from the province of Treviso, emerged as an alternative opposition candidate. At the congress, outgoing federal commissioner Alberto Stefani, a loyalist of Salvini, was thus elected secretary with 64.3% of the vote against Manzato's 35.7%, possibly with Zaia's silent support. The congress' result did not silence internal critics, like regional minister Federico Caner and MEP Gianantonio Da Re, who opposed Salvini's focus on southern Italy and his perceived Euroscepticism. Additionally, Caner, along with his colleagues Gianpaolo Bottacin and Roberto Marcato, did not go on stage at the
rally of Pontida. In the meantime, former leader
Flavio Tosi, who had merged his
Tosi List for Veneto into FI in June 2022 and had become that party's regional coordinator in March 2023, started wooing disgruntled LV members into his new party: most notably, splinters have included former Vice President of Veneto
Gianluca Forcolin, former senator
Gianpaolo Vallardi and regional councillor
Fabrizio Boron. In March 2024 Da Re was expelled from the party, of which he had been a member for 42 years, after having frequently criticised Salvini and finally offended him. In the
2024 European Parliament election the party was reduced to 13.2%. At the congress of the federal party, held in
Florence in April 2025, four Venetians were elected to the federal council, the party's governing board including 22 elective members: Mara Bizzotto and Giuseppe Canova representing the party's majority, and former leader Gian Paolo Gobbo e Erik Umberto Pretto representing the minority.
2025 regional election In the run-up of the
2025 regional election Lega long tried to change the law in order to allow term-limited Zaia to run again, as well as fielding Zaia's personal list, under which most of the party's regional councillors had been elected in 2020, but FdI and FI did not agree. However, the party was successful in obtaining the nomination of
Alberto Stefani as the coalition's joint candidate for President of Veneto. Unable to run again for the top job, Zaia announced that he would lead the party in all seven provinces. In the election, Stefani was elected President by a landslide 64.4% of the vote, with his main rival
Giovanni Manildo and
Riccardo Szumski obtaining 28.9% and 5.1%, respectively. The LV was confirmed the largest in the region with 36.3% of the vote, outperforming the
Brothers of Italy (18.7%) against all odds, while the combined score of
Venetian nationalist and/or regional parties was 45.0%, notably including 5.0% for
Resist Veneto and 1.8% for
Liga Veneta Repubblica. Zaia obtained 203,054 (write-in) preferences, the all-time record in Italian regional elections. After the election, Zaia was elected
President of the Council. The LV is also seeking to take control of most committees, by appointing term-limited former regional ministers as chairs. On the other side, Stefani, who had always confirmed that he would respect the pre-electoral pact on the balance of power between the parties of the coalition within the regional government, appointed a
cabinet composed of five ministers representing the Brothers of Italy, three the LV plus one non-party independent appointed on the party's behalf, and one
Forza Italia. The three ministers from the LV were
Massimo Bitonci – who had resigned from
Meloni government – at Economic Development, Research & Innovation and Investment Attraction,
Marco Zecchinato at Interregional Cooperation, Territorial Governance, Infrastructure, Local Government and Territorial Reorganisation, and
Paola Roma at Social Services, Family, Longevity, Sports and Housing. ==Ideology==