Twenty Thousand Leagues? An Analysis of trajectories the (Northern) League through its Regional Councillors

The Northern League, now simply the League, has been one of the most successful populist parties in Europe in the last three decades. Born as a protest phenomenon in the Northern Region of Italy, the party has changed its platform several times, evolving into a secessionist movement outside the main coalitions to then approach a more moderate regionalism firmly rooted within the centre-right. In the last ten years, under the leadership of Matteo Salvini, the party has reinvented itself once again. The League has become a radical right-wing populist party with a national projection, albeit several internal tensions about this transformation have erupted. While this party has been extensively studied with regards to its organisation and ideology, far less attention has been paid to its representatives elected at the local level and their career developments. This is indeed a fundamental perspective to understand the transformations of this political chameleon, which has given a great deal of emphasis to the regions for a large part of its history. With this work we aim to fill this void, through the study of the socio-demographic and political characteristics of all the regional councillors of the League elected from 1990 to today. Our article will analyse whether the political personnel of this party with a strong anti-establishment charge have been professionalised over time and how the political class of the "new" League differs from that of its origins.