The first time Italy realised the new party was on February 8th, 1991, when Umberto Bossi was elected Secretary of the Lega Nord. But we only really got struck by its presence in June 1991 at Pontida (where in 1167 the Lega Lombarda was created in order to stop Barbarossa's invasion), the Lega Nord declared the "Repubblica del Nord" with the clear intention to divide Italy into three federalist states.
The first following town election (24.04.91) witnessed its ultimate victory in
Brescia where the Lega Nord became the first party (24,4 %), banishing all the
traditional counterparts away. One year later (06.04.92), the national
election confirmed this spreading success all over the country: in the North
it got 15,9%, in the Centre 1,6 %, in the South 0,4% and in the Isles 0,3%.
6rom that time on, the Lega Nord seemed to grow in popularity among the voting
population, probably thanks to the talkative immediacy of its leader and the
decreasing power of all the main parties, more than to its not so feasible
programme.
In fact, thinking of my Nation divided in three to give in to the leaguists' whimsm, is not so appealing to me and - I guess - also to a lot of my fellow countrymen. Moreover, one of their revolutionary outcries was based on the south spoiling the national monetary resources, so that they proposed to get rid of all those unproductive regions which seem only able to spoil the national welfare. In the end - they say- we will see an industrialised and rich North leading Italy as long as to allow the Centre and South States to rise to the optimal situation.
Unfortunately, a lot of Italians are now thinking of voting this party just because it is new and hence not yet corrupted, not involved in the notorious "Tangentopoli" affair. But, actually, the Lega already had some little trouble with the law lately...
Going from the national political outlook to the particular situation of the university world of Perugia, I have to admit that students are not so involved in political matters. We often prefer to avoid this very delicate argument when talking. All we slightly accept to be concerned with is the two-yearly students' representative election. But still, politics is not the first thing that moves students. Of course, some political views can be found out in the words of the candidates, but then what is important is what the future representatives will be able to achieve for the students sake. Regarding this, I would like to point out the complete absence of the Lega Nord especially in the last university elections in spring 1993. On the other hand, the MSI was always present with some 20 people out of a university population of some 10.000, but actually never overcame the great approval the central mote parties got.
Laura Valiani - Preugia