The Alpine Padanian Union (''Unione Padana Alpina'', UPA) is a Padanist and

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

active in Lombardy,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The party emerged in March 2012 as a split from the

Padanian Union The Padanian Union (''Unione Padana'', UP) is a Padanist and separatist political party active in Lombardy, Italy. The party emerged in November 2011 by the merger of Lega Padana Lombardia, led by Roberto Bernardelli and Giulio Arrighini, and ot ...

(UP): the provincial section of

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes C ...

, led by

Giovanni Ongaro Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

, left the UP over disagreements with party leadership. The UP had been formed in November 2011 by the merger of

Lega Padana Lombardia Lega Padana Lombardia (Padanian League Lombardy), briefly in 2008 part of the Lombardia Autonoma (''Self-Governing Lombardy'') coalition, was a Padanist and autonomist political party active in Lombardy, northern Italy, between 2001 and 2011. The ...

and other groups, including that of Ongaro.

Riccardo Mazzoleni Riccardo is a male given name, Italian version of Ricardo or Richard. It also may be a surname. It means "Powerful Leader". It may refer to: People A–L *Riccardo Antoniazzi (1853–1912), Italian violin maker * Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–19 ...

and Giovanni Ongaro were respectively elected secretary and president of the newly formed party.

Cristiano Forte Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

, a former provincial secretary of

Lega Lombarda Lega Lombarda ( en, Lombard League; abbr. LL), whose complete name is ( en, Lombard League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Established in 1984, it was one of the founding "national" sections of Lega ...

–

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official ...

, was appointed deputy secretary.

Leadership

*Secretary:

(2012–present) **Deputy-Secretary:

(2012–present) *President:

(2012–present)

References

2012 establishments in Italy Padanian nationalist parties Political parties established in 2012 Political parties in Lombardy Separatism in Italy Padanian independence activists {{Italy-party-stub