South Tyrolean People's Party

South Tyrolean People's Party Südtiroler Volkspartei
Italian Lingual-Minority Party
Leader	Elmar Pichler Rolle
Founded	May 8, 1945
Headquarters	Via Brennero, 7/A 39100 Bolzano
Coalition	Regional
Political ideology	Regionalism, Christian democracy
International affiliation	none
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament Group	European People's Party–European Democrats
Membership	68,000 (2003, [1])
Official newspaper	ZIS
Website	www.svpartei.org
See also	Politics of Italy Political parties in Italy Elections in Italy

The South Tyrolean People's Party (Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP) was founded in 1945 and is a political party in the Italian province of Bolzano-Bozen. The SVP campaigns on a program of increased rights for German and Ladin-speakers in the province Bolzano-Bozen, which was annexed by Italy after the First World War. The province now has wide autonomy. There is no official ideology in the party, as it is meant to represent all German and Ladin speakers in Bolzano-Bozen. The ideology of SVP, which is a typical example of catch-all party, ranges from Christian democracy, due to the deep Catholic tradition of Bolzano-Bozen, and elements of social democracy, due to the lack of a true social-democratic party, apart from the tiny Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol in the Eighties. In German-speaking valleys the SVP has almost no opposition, apart from the Union for South Tyrol and The Libertarians on the right and the Greens (Bolzano-Bozen) on the left. Since the first election to the regional parliament (1948), the party has gained more than 50 percent in every election and provides over 100 of the 116 mayors in the province.

Recent history

In the 2004 European Parliamentary Election the SVP formed an electoral grouping with the Olive Tree coalition, on the understanding that an SVP candidate would be included in the list of elected if they could achieve more than 50,000 votes. In practice, Michl Ebner gained 93,169 votes and was included in the list of MEPs. Since the party is an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP), Ebner sits in the EPP section of the EPP-ED Group.

2006 elections

In the 9-10 April 2006 general elections, the party was member of the winning The Union (L'Unione) and won 3 out of 315 senators and 3 out of 630 deputies, along with the Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (1 deputy).

•  • e (complete version, historical parties)
The Union	Democratic Party – Communist Refoundation Party – Democratic Left Minor: Party of Italian Communists – Federation of the Greens – Italy of Values – Socialist Party – UDEUR Populars – Italian Radicals Micro: Liberal Democrats – Democratic Union – Critical Left – Italian Democratic Socialist Party – Citizens' Political Movement Regional: South Tyrolean People's Party – Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party – Valdotanian Renewal
House of Freedoms	Forza Italia – National Alliance – Union of Christian and Centre Democrats – Lega Nord Minor: The Right – Christian Democracy for the Autonomies – Movement for Autonomy – Pensioners' Party – Tricolour Flame – Social Action Micro: Italian Republican Party – Liberal Reformers – New Italian Socialist Party – Italians in the World Regional: Veneto for the EPP – Sardinian Reformers – Sardinian People's Party – Sardinian Democratic Union – New Sicily
Others	Micro: Italian Associations in South America – Socialist Party – Decide! Regional: Valdotanian Union – Edelweiss Aosta Valley – Autonomist Federation – Union for South Tyrol – The Libertarians – North-East Project – Sardinian Action Party Complete list
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