Early years The party was founded on 30 April 2005 as the
Movement for Autonomy (''Movimento per l'Autonomia'') by
Sicilian splinters from the
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) led by
Raffaele Lombardo, as well as people from other centre-right parties, notably including
Forza Italia (FI), the
Italian Republican Party (PRI) and
New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI). At the
2006 general election, the party joined the centre-right
House of Freedoms coalition and formed a joint-list, the
Pact for Autonomies, with
Lega Nord (LN), a regionalist movement based in
northern Italy, and the
Sardinian Action Party (PSd'Az). The MpA elected five deputies (two in the lists of FI) and two senators (one in the lists of FI). Lombardo claimed to have discarded the possibility of an alliance with the centre-left coalition
The Union mainly because of the latter's opposition to the building of the
Strait of Messina Bridge and their support for
civil unions. In January 2008, the MpA formed a political pact with
Vincenzo Scotti, leader of the
Third Pole, who became president of the party. At the
2008 general election, the party won 1.1% of the vote (7.4% in Sicily) and obtained eight deputies and two senators, thanks to the alliance with
The People of Freedom (PdL) and Lega Nord. After the election the MpA joined the
Berlusconi IV Cabinet. More important, at the
2008 Sicilian regional election Lombardo was elected President of the region by a landslide and the MpA was the third largest party in the region with 13.8% of the vote (21.8% including also Lombardo's personal list and the
Autonomist Democrats, the MpA's social-democratic and liberal faction) and 15 regional deputies.
The Party of the South , the party's leader. In the
2009 European Parliament election, the MpA, that changed its name into
Movement for Autonomies (
Movimento per le Autonomie) and aimed at becoming a national party, ran as part of
The Autonomy, that included also
The Right, the
Pensioners' Party and the
Alliance of the Centre. As part of its "national" strategy the party was joined by some small
northern regionalist parties:
Lombardia Autonoma, the Forum of Venetians,
Autonomist Trentino and
S.O.S. Italy. The alliance gained a mere 2.2% of the vote, thus returning no MEPs, but in its
Sicilian stronghold it reached 15.6%. Since the election there were talks about the foundation of a new "Party of the South", of which the MpA would have been the core. In December 2009
Raffaele Lombardo, leader of the MpA and President of Sicily, formed his third cabinet that included ministers from his MpA party, the "PdL–Sicily" of
Gianfranco Micciché and the newly formed regional section of
Alliance for Italy (ApI), plus some independents, including one who was close to the centre-left opposition
Democratic Party (PD). Lombardo appointed no members of the "official" PdL and of the UDC. The break-up of the alliance with the official PdL in Sicily and all around the South led to a painful split. In January 2010
Vincenzo Scotti and four deputies out of eight, who wanted to continue the alliance with the PdL, were expelled from the party and formed their own movement called
We the South (NS). However, in September 2010 Lombardo broke also with Micciché and formed his fourth cabinet supported by the so-called "third pole" coalition, composed of the MpA,
Future and Freedom (FLI), a wing of the UDC and ApI, plus the PD. In November, as an ally of
Gianfranco Fini's FLI, the MpA quit Berlusconi's government. On 15 December 2010, the MpA was a founding member of the
New Pole for Italy (NPI) along with the UDC, FLI and ApI. In March 2011, Lombardo announced that the MpA would soon merge into a larger "party of the South". In July 2012, Lombardo stepped down from secretary of the party and was replaced by
Giovanni Pistorio, the long-time leader of the party in Sicily, along with
Agazio Loiero, a former
Southern Democrat and later Democrat who had been President of
Calabria from 2005 to 2010.
The Party of Sicilians In August 2012, Lombardo resigned also from President of Sicily, prompting an early
regional election. The Sicilian section of the MpA was renamed as
Party of Sicilians (PdS). Lombardo decided not to stand for re-election and the PdS chose to support
Gianfranco Micciché, leader of
Great South (GS), for president, as part of a "Sicilianist" coalition. Micciché won 15.4% of the vote, while the PdS obtained a mere 9.5% and ten regional deputies. The PdS/MpA failed to pass the electoral thresholds in the
2013 general election, but, thanks to an agreement with the PdL, had one deputy (
Angelo Attaguile) and two senators (
Antonio Scavone and
Pippo Compagnone) elected. Attaguile chose to team up with the LN in the "Lega Nord–Autonomies" parliamentary group. Attaguile later left the PdS/MpA and joined to
Us with Salvini (NcS), becoming its national secretary. In the
2017 regional election, the PdS/MpA formed teamed up with
Cantiere Popolare (CP) under the banner of "Populars and Autonomists". The list won 7.1% of the vote, obtained six regional deputies and entered the regional government led by
Nello Musumeci, the newly elected president of Sicily. In December 2017, the PdS/MpA was a founding member of
Us with Italy (NcI), a pro-
Silvio Berlusconi centrist electoral list within the
centre-right coalition for the
2018 general election, along with CP,
Direction Italy (DI),
Civic Choice (SC),
Act! (F!) and splinters of
Popular Alternative (AP – two groups, a liberal one led by
Enrico Costa and a Christian-democratic one led by
Maurizio Lupi). NcI was later enlarged to the
Union of the Centre (UdC) and
Identity and Action (IdeA), with the goal of reaching 3%, required to win seats from proportional lists under a new electoral law.
Recent developments In December 2020,
Matteo Salvini and
Roberto Di Mauro signed a federative agreement between the
League and the
Movement for New Autonomy (
Movimento per la Nuova Autonomia, MNA) based on a series of key points: "Infrastructural development, taxation of ten-year advantage for companies that want to invest in Sicily, a relentless fight against organised crime, Sicilian agri-food development, tourism and strengthening of Sicilian autonomy and administrative in favor of municipalities, simplification and digitisation." In 2022, the party resumed its original name,
Movement for Autonomy. In the
2022 regional election, the party, again in a joint list with CP, won 6.8% of the vote. On 23 March 2025, Lombardo founded along with
Gianfranco Miccichè and
Roberto Lagalla the movement
Great Sicily () to work alongside MpA. ==Election results==