The party was founded in 1989 by Giorgio Conca, a leading member of Lega Lombarda, and Carla Uccelli, as Emilian-Romagna League, thus comprising also Romagna. Soon after the LER was joined by Fabio Dosi, who was elected secretary. The party participated to the 1989 European Parliament election as part of the coalitionLega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord. In 1989–1990 the LER took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections, taking the current name, upon the separation from Lega Nord Romagna. Since then LNE and LNR have been the two regional sections of Lega Nord in Emilia-Romagna, but continue to cooperate in regional politics. From 2002 to 2012 the party was led by Angelo Alessandri, who served also as federal president of Lega Nord from 2005 to 2012. At the 2008 general election the party elected four deputies and two senators. In May 2012 Alessandri stepped down from secretary and was replaced by Fabio Rainieri, an ally of Roberto Maroni and one of the leaders of the party's agricultural wing. Rainieri, who had formerly been president, was elected with the support of 173 delegates at the party's congress, while his opponent Riad Ghelfi had secured just 93. Some weeks later, Manes Bernardini, a party's rising star from Bologna, was elected president by the party's national council with 70% of the vote. In November Alessandri left the party altogether. At the same time a group of activists quit in order to join Matteo Renzi's campaign for the 2012 centre-left primary election. In June 2014Pietro Pisani replaced Bernardini as national president. Bernardini would leave the party altogether in October. In the 2014 regional electionthe jointlist of LNE and LNR obtained its best result so far in a regionwide election. In December 2015, during a national congress, Gianluca Vinci beat Matteo Rancan and was elected secretary. The vote was setback for Lega Nord's federal secretary Matteo Salvini, who supported Rancan: though not an anti-salviniano, Vinci was once close to Flavio Tosi, a Venetian leader who was ejected by Salvini from the party earlier that year, and a more independent figure. In January 2016Giovanni Tombolato was elected national president. In the 2019 European Parliament election the party obtained 33.8%, its best result ever. In the 2020 Emilia-Romagna regional election LNE's Lucia Borgonzoni posed the strongest challenge so far to the dominant PD, but stopped at 43.6% and was defeated, while the League's list obtained 32.0%.
Popular support
Lega Nord is usually stronger in the outer provinces, both in Emilia and Romagna. In the 2019–2020 elections it did better in the provinces of Piacenza, Parma, Ferrara and Rimini. The combined electoral results of Lega Nord Emilia and Lega Nord Romagna in Emilia-Romagna are shown in the tables below.
1990 regional
1992 general
1994 general
1995 regional
1996 general
1999 European
2000 regional
2001 general
2004 European
2005 regional
2006 general
2008 general
2009 European
2010 regional
2.9
9.6
6.4
3.4
7.2
3.0
2.6
3.3
3.4
4.8
3.9
7.8
11.1
13.7
Leadership
National Secretary: Giorgio Conca, Fabio Dosi, Pierluigi Copercini, Maurizio Parma, Angelo Alessandri, Fabio Rainieri, Gianluca Vinci
