The 2013 South Tyrolean Election: The End of SVP Hegemony

Abstract

The results of the 2013 South Tyrolean elections, held on 27 of October, caused major changes in the political system of the autonomy. For the first time since the Second World War the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) lost its absolute majority. While the German secessionist parties increased their electoral support, the Italian parties suffered heavy electoral losses, thus leading to an underrepresentation of Italianspeakers in the political institutions. The election report shows how the electoral results affect the South Tyrolean system of ethnic proportional representation, which is characterised by an increasing asymmetry.

The ‘Alpine region’ and political change: Lessons from Bavaria and South Tyrol (1946–2018)

“…In a book focusing on the German Land, Peter James (1995: 1) defined Bavaria as 'an exception to the rule in the German political system'. South Tyrol has equally been regarded as a peculiar case within Italy not only due to linguistic and cultural factorsthe majority of its population is German-speakingbut also because of its highly distinctive political and institutional system (Scantamburlo and Pallaver 2014).…”

“…(disagio), because the majority did not feel represented by the provincial government (Scantamburlo and Pallaver 2014). Therefore although the SVP continued to win an absolute majority of votes and seats until the 2000s, thus retaining its dominance within the Germanspeaking community, the consensual character of South-Tyrolean politics started declining.…”

Democratic regeneration in European peripheral regions: new politics for the territory?

“…Whereas the M5S became the largest party at its debut on the national stage in 2013 with 25.6%, at the regional level it only gradually consolidated itself as a third force behind the traditional centre-left and right (from an average of 3.3% in 2010 to 16.3% in 2015). The territorial distribution of M5S vote shares ranges from 2.5% in South Tyrol to 22.3% in Liguria, thus showing a large diversity across regions (Scantamburlo and Pallaver 2014;Vampa 2015). Similarly, the UKIP in 2014 became the largest party at the European level with 27%, whereas at the regional level it achieved representation for the first time in Wales in 2016, when it nearly trebled its share of votes compared to 2011 (from 4.7% to 12.5%).…”