Flavio Tosi (born 18 June 1969) is an Italian politician who served as the mayor of Verona from 2007 to 2017. He has been a long-time member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord. Political career Having joined Liga Veneta (LV) in 1991, Tosi was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of the LV in the Province of Verona. In the meantime, in the 2000 regional election he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto, where he served as the party's floor leader for two years. After being the most voted candidate in the 2005 regional election (more than 28,000 of personal votes), he was appointed regional minister of Health in Galan III Government. Aged 36, he was one of the LV's rising stars, alongside Luca Zaia, who was contextually appointed vice president and soon became his main rival within the party. In late 2006 Tosi launched his bid for mayor of Verona. Initially he was supported only by his party, but then, thanks to his popularity in opinion polls, he was able to threw behind himself the whole centre-right coalition, including the LV, Forza Italia, National Alliance, the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats and minor parties. In May 2007 he was elected mayor of Verona by a large margin: 60.8% to 33.9% of the incumbent Paolo Zanotto. Verona was thus the second largest Italian city ever ruled by Lega Nord (LN), the first one being Milan, ruled by Marco Formentini from 1993 to 1997. Tosi was one of the most popular mayors in Italy with approval ratings around 65-75%. In July 2008 the LV held its national congress in Padua. Tosi unsuccessfully tried to replace Gian Paolo Gobbo as national secretary, but was elected national president instead. Tosi appeared to be also the standard-bearer of the party in view of the 2010 regional election, along with Zaia. However, in December 2009 Tosi had to renounce his bid to become President of Veneto in favour of Zaia, who commanded a larger support in the party's national council. In June 2012 Tosi, just re-elected mayor of Verona with 57.4% of the vote (three times his closest opponent Michele Bertucco, who got a mere 22.8%), was elected national secretary of the LV with 57% of the votes (236 delegates out of 414), while his challenger Massimo