[5] An ethnic catch-all party,[6][7][8] the SVP is aimed at representing South Tyrol's German-speaking population, as well as Ladin speakers.

[10] The party also gives special attention to the interests of farmers, which make up a good deal of its electorate, especially in Alpine valleys.

In the Italian Parliament the SVP teams up with other regionalist parties, notably including the Valdostan Union from Aosta Valley, while at the European level it is a member of the European People's Party (EPP)[11] and has recently formed electoral pacts with Forza Italia, Italy's main EPP member.

[12][13] In 1989, Silvius Magnago, long-time SVP leader and governor of South Tyrol since 1960, handed his office to Luis Durnwalder, who would keep the post until 2013.

In the 2004 European Parliament election, the SVP formed an electoral alliance with The Olive Tree joint list, including the DS.

In April 2009, Richard Theiner, a member of the Arbeitnehmer ("employees") left-leaning wing,[20] was elected party chairman, due to an agreement between the opposing factions.

[21] Since then he was assisted by three deputy chairpersons: Thomas Widmann (Wirtschaft or "business" faction), Martha Stocker and Paola Bioc Gasser (representative of the Ladin section).

[24] Some long-serving MPs, notably Siegfried Brugger and Helga Thaler Ausserhofer, chose not to run for re-election and the party selected its candidates through a primary election.

[25] In the general election, the SVP won 44.2% of the provincial vote[26] (–0.1pp from 2008) and, being part of the coalition winning the national majority premium, obtained five deputies: Albrecht Plangger, Renate Gebhard, Daniel Alfreider, PATT's Mauro Ottobre and Manfred Schullian.

[29] The SVP, in alliance with the PD, the UpT and the PATT, contributed also to the election of centre-left or autonomist candidates in the constituency of Bolzano and in those of Trentino.

[30] On 21 April, in a party primary, the SVP selected Arno Kompatscher as its head of the list for the 2013 provincial election, in place of Durnwalder.

Kompatscher, 42-year-old mayor of Völs am Schlern, won 82.4% of the vote, while former SVP leader Elmar Pichler Rolle a mere 17.6%.

For the Chamber, Plangger was elected in Meran (61.2%),[41] Gebhard in Brixen (65.0%),[42] Schullian and PATT's Emanuela Rossini from the PR list.

[43] For the Senate, Julia Unterberger was elected in Merano (61.1%),[44] Meinhard Durnwalder in Brixen (66.5%)[45] and Dieter Steger from the PR list.

[46] The SVP's support granted the election of PD's candidates for the Chamber and the Senate in Bolzano, but for the first time the centre-left lost badly in Trentino, where the LN – re-styled as "Lega" – became the largest party.

That was due to the competition from a number of right-wing and populist German-speaking parties (combined 25.0% of the vote), as well as the split of For South Tyrol with Widmann (3.4%).

After the election, the SVP chose to pursue an alliance with the Brothers of Italy (FdI, 6.0%), Die Freiheitlichen (dF, 4.9%), Lega Alto Adige Südtirol (LAAST, 3.1%) and The Civic List (LC, 2.6%).

[94] Siegfried Brugger and Elmar Pichler Rolle, who led the party in 1992–2004 and 2004–2009 respectively, are centrist figures who worked for preserving internal unity.