Corsican nationalism

Corsican nationalism is a nationalist movement in Corsica that advocates more autonomy for the island, if not outright independence from France. The main separatist party, Corsica Libera, achieved 9.85% of votes in the 2010 French regional elections. However, only 19% and 42% of those who voted respectively for Gilles Simeoni's autonomist list Femu a Corsica and Jean-Guy Talamoni's separatist Corsica Libera were, according to polling, in favour of independence. By 2012, polls showed support for independence at 10-15%, while support for increased devolution within France was as high as 51% (of which two-thirds would prefer "slightly more" rather than "much more" autonomy). Among the general French population, 30% of respondents expressed a favourable view on Corsican independence. In what was viewed as a "setback" for Nicolas Sarkozy's decentralisation programme, the government's proposal for increased autonomy for Corsica was turned down in a referendum in 2003 by a result of 51% negative and 49% affirmative votes expressed by the local electorate. In 2015, Simeoni's pro-autonomy coalition Pè a Corsica won for the first time ever in the French regional elections, getting 35.34% of the vote and 24 out of 51 seats in the Corsican Assembly. In the 2017 elections for the Corsican Assembly, their majority was reinforced, Pè a Corsica got 56.46% of the votes and 41 seats. In 2017, in the legislative elections, three nationalists from Pè a Corsica were elected to the French National Assembly, out of the four members elected in Corsica: Paul-André Colombani in Southern Corsica, Michel Castellani and Jean-Félix Acquaviva in Upper Corsica. A sense of Corsican particularity can be traced back to the mid-18th century, when the island was fought over by the Genoese Republic and the Kingdom of France. Pasquale Paoli led a rebellion by Corsicans against the various foreign powers contesting the island, founding a short-lived independent state governed from Corte.