From the Lega Nord to Salvini’s League: changing everything to change nothing?

Abstract

The article aims to retrace the transformations of the Lega Nord under the leadership of Matteo Salvini by focusing on the analysis of key dimensions such as: the ideology and issue positions, the territorial distribution of vote, and the party internal organization. The actual Lega of Salvini is undoubtedly different from the party of the origin. Regionalist claims and a fluid ideological trait have turned into far-right, nationalistic and anti-E.U. perspective, which allowed to drain votes from new and different socio-geographic contexts, even without a durable electoral rootedness. The article also highlights how the recent season of success for the Lega introduced elements of uncertainty in the strategies, alliances, and the party identity itself during a critical period of the Italian politics and under the effect of the pandemic crisis.