Massimo Bitonci is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Venetist

Venetism

Venetian nationalism is an ideology and a regionalist movement demanding more autonomy, or even independence from Italy, for Veneto, and promoting the re-discovery the Republic of Venice's heritage, traditions, culture and language...

 politician. He is member of Liga Veneta

Liga Veneta

Liga Veneta is a regionalist political party based in Veneto, combining Venetism and fiscal federalism. Liga Veneta is by far the largest party in Veneto and the party of Luca Zaia, President of Veneto since March 2010.It was the first party of its kind in Northern Italy, predating Umberto...

-Lega Nord.

In 1993, he joined Lega Nord and was Deputy Mayor of Cittadella

Cittadella

Cittadella is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the thirteenth century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is 1461 m in circumference with a diameter of around 450 m. There are four gates which roughly...

 from 1994 to 2002. During his second term he joined Mayor Lucio Facco into Liga Veneta Repubblica. With the support of that party he ran for Mayor in 2002. , his party won 14.9%, defeating Liga Veneta in one of its strongholds, and he was elected in the second round with 50.9% of the vote, also with the support of two regionalist citizen's lists.

In 2007, he was re-elected Mayor with the 56.5% of the vote in the first round. In that occasion he was supported by a regionalist front composed of Liga Veneta, Liga Fronte Veneto and some citizen's lists, which won altogether 51.7% of the vote.

In the 2008 general election

Italian general election, 2008 (Veneto)

The Italian general election of 2008 took place on 13–14 April 2008. The election was won in Veneto by the centre-right coalition between The People of Freedom and Lega Nord, as it happened at the national level...

, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies

Italian Chamber of Deputies

The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...

, where he sits in the parliamentary group of Lega Nord. , he trailed the electoral result of the party in the Province of Padua

Province of Padua

The Province of Padua is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.-History and territory:...

, where Lega Nord passed from 7.7% to 24.1% in two years, and especially in Cittadella, where the party quadruplicated his score from 11.6% to 42.2%.