Sardinian Action Party

The Sardinian Action Party (Sardinian: Partidu Sardu, Italian: Partito Sardo d'Azione, PSd'Az or PSdA) is a Sardinian nationalist, regionalist^[8] and separatist^[9] political party in Sardinia founded by Sardinian anti-fascist intellectual Emilio Lussu. While being traditionally part of the Sardinian centre-left, the party has also sided with the centre-right coalition and, more recently, with the League.

Sardinian Action Party Partito Sardo d'Azione (Italian) Partidu Sardu (Sardinian)
Secretary	Christian Solinas
President	Antonio Moro
Founder	Emilio Lussu
Founded	17 April 1921
Headquarters	Viale Regina Margherita 6, Cagliari
Newspaper	Il Solco
Ideology	Sardinian nationalism[1] Regionalism Autonomism[2] Historical: Social democracy[3] Social liberalism[4] Separatism[4] Classical radicalism[5]
Political position	Right-wing[6] Historical: Centre-left
National affiliation	Political party: League Coalition: Centre-right coalition
European affiliation	European Free Alliance (1981–2020, expelled)[7]
Colours	Black   Red
Chamber of Deputies	0 / 400
Senate	0 / 200
European Parliament	0 / 73
Regional Council of Sardinia	0 / 60
Conference of Regions	0 / 21
Party flag
Website
www.psdaz.net
Politics of Sardinia Political parties Elections

The PSd'Az is one of the oldest stateless nationalist parties active in Europe that promotes autonomy towards the ideal of independence.^[10][11] As such, the party was a founding member of the European Free Alliance in 1984,^[12][13] but was expelled in 2020 because of its alliance with the League.^[7][14]

Christian Solinas, who has led the party since 2015, was elected senator in the 2018 general election and President of Sardinia in the 2019 regional election, the first Sardist to do so since Mario Melis in 1984–1989, leading a centre-right coalition.

History

The party was founded in April 1921. However, it was soon banned under fascism. The party was re-organized after World War II by Emilio Lussu, secretary for Southern Italy of the Action Party during the war, and other veterans from the Sassari brigade and anti-fascists,^[12][15] a social-democratic group of the Italian resistance movement. Lussu left the party in 1948 to found the short-lived Sardinian Socialist Action Party (PSd'AzS), which joined the Italian Socialist Party in 1949, along with many other PSd'Az members.^[12][16] Consequently, the PSd'Az started to cooperate with Christian Democracy and was quite a stable until the 1980s.^[12]

The PSd'Az and the PSd'AzS won 10.5% and 6.6% respectively in the first regional election in 1949.^[12]

After a decline in term of votes in the 1960s and 1970s, the party re-gained strength in the 1980s (13.8% in 1984 and 12.4% in 1989). Following these results, Sardist Mario Melis was President of Sardinia between 1984 and 1989 at the head of a five-party coalition composed also by the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and the Italian Republican Party. This was the highest point in party history: the PSd'Az was represented in the Italian Parliament from 1983 to 1994, and Melis was a MEP for the Rainbow Group from 1989 to 1994.^[17]

The party was affiliated to The Olive Tree during the 1996 general election.^[18] However, the party congress rejected a continuation of the alliance ahead the 2001 general election.^[19]

In the 2004 Sardinian regional election, the PSd'Az won 3.9% of the vote and 2 regional councillors.

In the 2006 general election, leader Giacomo Sanna, due to an electoral pact named Pact for the Autonomies, was a candidate of the Northern League (LN) for the Senate in Lombardy, but failed to get elected.

The party ran by itself in the 2008 general election, winning a mere 1.5% in the Region.^[20]

In the 2009 regional election, the PSd'Az joined the centre-right coalition, provoking the split of the party's left that formed the Red Moors.^[12] Cappellacci won and the PSd'Az won 4.3% of the vote (having its strongholds in the traditionally left-wing Provinces of Nuoro and Carbonia-Iglesias, where it gained 7.5 and 7.1%, respectively)^[21] and four regional councillors plus one (Giacomo Sanna) elected in Cappellacci's regional list.^[22] The Red Moors won 2.5% and one councillor. In the 2010 provincial elections the party was strongest in Nuoro (12.8%), Sassari (6.9%), Olbia-Tempio (6.7%) and Cagliari (6.4%).^[23]

In 2013, the PSd'Az broke with Cappellacci and the centre-right,^[24] but re-joined the coalition in time for the 2014 regional election. In the election, Cappellacci was defeated and the PSd'Az won 4.7% of the vote and two regional councillors.^[25]

In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party formed once again an electoral pact with the Northern League,^{[26][27][28][29]} which presented itself as "League" all around the country. The alliance managed to get 10.8% of the vote and Christian Solinas, leader of the PSd'Az, was elected to the Senate,^[30] while Guido De Martini, a local activist of the League,^[31] was elected to the Chamber. This marked the return of the PSd'Az to the Italian Parliament after 22 years.^[32] In August 2018, the party was suspended from the European Free Alliance because of its alliance with the League.^[33]

In the 2019 regional election, Solinas was elected President of Sardinia with 47.8% of the vote, while the PSd'Az won 9.9%.

In the 2024 regional election, Solinas did not stand for re-election and the centre-right lost the election, with the PSd'Az reduced to 5.4% and three regional councillors. After the election, Solinas was re-elected as its leader during a congress.^[34][35] As a result, two regional councillors out of three left the party.^[36][37] In September, all three PSd'Az elects joined Forza Italia.^[38][39]

Popular support

The party has failed to regain the electoral support it enjoyed upon its foundation (e.g. 36% of the popular vote in 1921 general election).^[40]

The party has been mostly marginal in the Sardinan political scene since the post-war period and this marginalisation has increased with the Italian establishment of a bipolar political system in the 1990s.^[41]

The electoral results of the PSd'Az in regional and Chamber of Deputies elections in Sardinia since 1946 are shown in the chart below. For 1953 only the regional election's result is shown. In the general elections of 1972, 1976, 1979 and 2006 the party did not run lists for the Chamber of Deputies.

Election results

Regional Council of Sardinia

Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Leader
1949	60,525	10.4	7 / 60	7	Piero Soggiu
1953	43,215	7.0	4 / 65	3	Giovanni Battista Melis
1957	40,214	6.0	5 / 70	1	Pietro Mastino
1961	50,039 (with PRI)	7.2	5 / 72	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1965	44,621 (with PRI)	6.4	5 / 72	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1969	33,220	4.4	3 / 74	2	Giovanni Battista Melis
1974	24,780	3.1	1 / 75	2	Michele Columbu
1979	30,238	3.3	3 / 80	2	Carlo Sanna
1984	136,720	13.8	12 / 81	9	Carlo Sanna
1989	128,025	12.4	10 / 80	2	Carlo Sanna
1994	47,000	5.1	4 / 64	6	Giancarlo Acciaro
1999	38,422	4.5	3 / 64	1	Antonio Delitala
2004	32,859	3.9	3 / 85	–	Giacomo Sanna
2009	35,428	4.3	4 / 80	1	Giovanni Colli
2014	31,886	4.7	3 / 60	1	Giovanni Colli
2019	69,964	9.9	8 / 60	5	Christian Solinas
2024	37,341	5.4	3 / 60	6	Christian Solinas

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Leader
1921	35,108	0.53	4 / 535	–	Camillo Bellieni
1924	24,059	0.34	2 / 535	2	Salvatore Sale
1946	78,554	0.34	2 / 556	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1948	61,928	0.24	1 / 574	1	Giovanni Battista Melis
1953	27,231	0.10	0 / 590	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1958	173,227 (with MC–PCd'I)	0.59	0 / 596	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1968	27,228	0.09	0 / 630	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1979	17,673	0.05	0 / 630	–	Carlo Sanna
1983	91,923	0.25	1 / 630	1	Carlo Sanna
1987	169,978	0.44	2 / 630	1	Carlo Sanna
1992	154,621 (with Federalism)	0.39	1 / 630	1	Giorgio Ladu
1996	38,002	0.10	0 / 630	1	Lorenzo Palermo
2001	34,412 (with SN)	0.09	0 / 630	–	Giacomo Sanna
2006	Into LN–MpA	–	0 / 630	–	Giacomo Sanna
2008	14,856	0.04	0 / 630	–	Efisio Trincas
2013	18,585	0.05	0 / 630	–	Giovanni Colli
2018	Into Lega Nord	–	0 / 630	–	Christian Solinas
2022	Into Lega	–	0 / 315	–	Christian Solinas

Senate of the Republic
Election year	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Leader
1948	65,743	0.29	1 / 237	1	Giovanni Battista Melis
1953	34,484	0.14	0 / 237	1	Giovanni Battista Melis
1958	45,952	0.18	0 / 246	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1963	34,954	0.13	0 / 315	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1968	25,891	0.09	0 / 315	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1972	189,534 (with PCI–PSIUP)	0.63	0 / 315	–	Giovanni Battista Melis
1979	15,766	0.05	0 / 315	–	Carlo Sanna
1983	76,797	0.25	1 / 315	1	Carlo Sanna
1987	124,266	0.38	1 / 315	–	Carlo Sanna
1992	174,713 (with Federalism)	0.52	0 / 315	1	Giorgio Ladu
1994	88,225	0.27	0 / 315	–	Giancarlo Acciaro
1996	421,331 (with The Olive Tree)	1.19	1 / 315	1	Lorenzo Palermo
2001	32,822 (with SN)	0.10	0 / 315	1	Giacomo Sanna
2006	16,733	0.06	0 / 315	–	Giacomo Sanna
2008	15,292	0.05	0 / 315	–	Efisio Trincas
2013	18,602	0.06	0 / 315	–	Giovanni Colli
2018	Into Lega Nord	–	1 / 315	1	Christian Solinas
2022	Into Lega	–	0 / 315	1	Christian Solinas

European Parliament

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
1984[a]	Carlo Sanna	193,430 (10th)	0.55	1 / 81	New	RBW
1989[a]		207,739 (12th)	0.60	1 / 87	0	RBW
1994	Did not contest			0 / 87	1	–
1999[b]	Antonio Delitala	61,185 (21st)	0.2	0 / 87	0
2004[c]	Giacomo Sanna	159,098 (18th)	0.49	0 / 78	0
2009	Did not contest			0 / 72	0
2014	Christian Solinas	Into Lega Nord		0 / 73	0
2019		Into Lega		0 / 76	0
2024		Into Lega		0 / 76	0

1. Run as part of the Federalism coalition.
2. Run in a joint list with LAV and CU.
3. Run in a joint list with LAL, LFV and UfS.

Leadership

• Secretary: Camillo Bellieni (1921–1922), Paolo Pili (1922), Luigi Oggiano (1922–1923), Salvatore Sale (1923–1925), Ugo Pais (1925–1926), Luigi Battista Puggioni (1926–1945), Giovanni Battista Melis (1945–1948), Piero Soggiu (1948–1951), Giovanni Battista Melis (1951–1953), Pietro Mastino (1953–1957), Giovanni Battista Melis (1957–1974), Michele Columbu (1974–1979), Carlo Sanna (1979–1990), Efisio Pilleri (1990–1991), Giorgio Ladu (1991–1992), Italo Ortu (1992–1994), Giancarlo Acciaro (1994), Cecilia Contu (1994–1995), Lorenzo Palermo (1995–1997), Antonio Delitala (1997–1999), Giacomo Sanna (2000–2006), Efisio Trincas (2006–2009), Giovanni Colli (2009–2014), Giovanni Columbu (2015), Christian Solinas (2015–present)
• President: unknown (1921–unknown), Franco Meloni (unknown–2000), Lorenzo Palermo (2000–2004), Silvano Cadoni (2004–2006), Giacomo Sanna (2006–2015), Giovanni Columbu (2015–2017), Antonio Moro (2018–present)

Symbols

• 
  Official logo
• 
  Electoral logo

References

1. Hassan, Gerry (2009). Modern SNP: From Protest to Power. Edinburgh University Press. p. 199. ISBN 9780748642113. Likewise, the constitutional aims of the nationalist Sardinian Action Party (Psd'Az) are more subtle than simply demanding independence.
2. Alcalde, Ángel (2017). War Veterans and Fascism in Interwar Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 9781107198425.
3. "Gianfranco Contu, biografo delle "comunità dentro gli ideali", di Gianfranco Murtas | Fondazione Sardinia".
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20180531195841/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/sardinia.html ^{[bare URL]}
5. "Mazzini e le radici del sardismo - la Nuova Sardegna".
6. "Il Partito sardo d'Azione nasce il 17 aprile 1921 dal Movimento dei combattenti, riunito a Oristano per preparare le imminenti elezioni politiche. Ma l'evento è preparato da un lungo fermento..." (in Italian). La Nuova. 2021-04-18. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
7. "Efa-Ale (European Free Alliance) expels the Sardinian Action Party". L'Unione Sarda. 2020.
8. John A. Agnew (2002). Place and Politics in Modern Italy. University of Chicago Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-226-01051-9.
9. Sardinian Action Party Statute - About the party: Art.1: Il “Partidu Sardu – Partito Sardo d’Azione” è la libera associazione di coloro che si propongono, attraverso l’azione politica, di affermare la sovranità del popolo sardo sul proprio territorio, e di condurre la Nazione Sarda all’indipendenza.
10. Elias (A.) et Tronconi (F.), From protest to power. Autonomist parties and the challenges of representation, Vienna, Braumüller, 2011
11. "Sardinians - World Directory of Minorities". Faqs.org.
12. Eve Hepburn (2010). "Explaining Failure: Sardinian Nationalism". In Eve Hepburn (ed.). New Challenges for Stateless Nationalist and Regionalist Parties. Routledge. pp. 116–121. ISBN 978-1-317-96596-1.
13. "30 years EFA" (PDF). E-f-a.org. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
14. Izzo, Riccardo (2020-10-05). "Il Partito Sardo d'Azione espulso dagli autonomisti europei dell'European Free Alliance". Termometro Politico (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-10-31.
15. Antonio Sorge (2015). Legacies of Violence: History, Society, and the State in Sardinia. University of Toronto Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4426-2174-9.
16. "Partito Sardo d'Azione - PSD'Az - P.S. d'Az". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
17. "Mario MELIS". Europarl.europa.eu.
18. James Newell (2002). The Italian General Election of 2001: Berlusconi's Victory. Manchester University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-7190-6100-4.
19. Eve Hepburn (2010). Using Europe: Territorial Party Strategies in a Multi-level System. Manchester University Press. pp. 133–134. ISBN 978-1-84779-764-3.
20. "Ministero dell'Interno - Elezioni della Camera dei Deputati". Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
21. "Risultati per circoscrizione-Regione Autonoma della Sardegna". Regione.sardegna.it.
22. "Elezioni del XIV Consiglio regionale e del Presidente della Regione . Proclamati Eletti Dall' Ufficio Centrale Regionale" (PDF). Regione.sardegna.it. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
23. "Ministry of the Interior". Archived from the original on 2010-04-01.
24. "Sardegna Oggi: Notizie e informazione regionale". Sardegnaoggi.it.
25. "Sardegna - Elezioni Regionali del 16 febbraio 2014". Repubblica.it.
26. "Lega-Psd'Az, arriva l'accordo: Salvini a Cagliari - Politica". L'Unione Sarda.it. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
27. "LEGA - PSD'AZ, I NOSTRI OBIETTIVI: 10 PUNTI PER LA SARDEGNA". Sito Ufficiale del Partidu Sardu - Partito Sardo d'Azione. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
28. Salvini: "Nel 2018 Italia federale". Accordo Lega-Partito Sardo d'Azione, Affaritaliani.it
29. Rojch, Luca (23 January 2018). "Psd'Az: "Noi e la Lega? Giusto così. Proteste insignificanti" - Cronaca". la Nuova Sardegna. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
30. "Parlamentari al primo mandato e uscenti che tornano a Roma: i 25 eletti". Sardiniapost.it. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
31. "Sardegna Reporter - Ultime Notizie Sardegna". Sardegna Reporter. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
32. "Psd'Az di nuovo in Parlamento dopo 22 anni grazie a Salvini: eletti Solinas e De Martini". Sardiniapost.it. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
33. "Member Parties". EFA - European Free Alliance. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
34. "PSD'Az, Solinas e Moro riconfermati tra le polemiche. Maieli e Chessa si autosospendono". 21 April 2024.
35. "Congresso del PSD'Az, confermati Solinas e Moro tra le polemiche".
36. "Chessa e Maieli lasciano ufficialmente il PSD'Az: «Grande rammarico ma dimissioni irrevocabili»". 11 May 2024.
37. "Ora è ufficiale: Gianni Chessa e Piero Maieli lasciano il PSD'Az".
38. "Tajani, consiglieri sardi del PSD'Az aderiscono a FI - Ultima ora - Ansa.it". 9 September 2024.
39. "Chessa, Maieli e Marras dal PSD'Az a Forza Italia, Tajani: «Frutto di ragionamento politico»". 9 September 2024.
40. Hepburn, E. (2009) 'Explaining Failure: the Highs and Lows of Sardinian Nationalism', Regional & Federal Studies, 19(4/5)
41. Hepburn, Eve (1 December 2009). "Explaining Failure: the Highs and Lows of Sardinian Nationalism" (PDF). Regional & Federal Studies. 19 (4–5): 595–618. doi:10.1080/13597560903310378. hdl:20.500.11820/e807c32f-53f3-49e9-8664-67e5846ecc7a. S2CID 153455408.

External links

• Official website