The new leader of the Italian center-left, Elly Schlein GUGLIELMO EATERS | REUTERS
They won by surprise the primary elections of the main left-wing party in the country
28 feb 2023 . Updated at 10:16 a.m.
Elly Schlein, deputy and former vice president of Emilia-Romaa (center), won the primaries of the Democratic Party (PD), the main center-left Italian force. Many analysts thought that the winner of Sunday’s vote would be Stefano Bonaccini, president of Emilia-Romagna, highly appreciated by businessmen and the leadership of the PD. However, in the end, the popular vote of young people, women and militants concerned about environmental issues and inequality made Schlein’s victory possible. At eleven o’clock on Sunday night, with 80% of the votes counted, the deputy’s victory was already clear: 53.8% compared to the 46.2% obtained by her opponent.
After Giorgia Meloni, prime minister as well as leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, currently first in the polls, another woman has come to the head of the largest opposition party, and the second most voted in the regional elections fifteen days ago.
Elena Ethel (Elly) Schlein is an atypical politician by Italian standards: born in 1985, the daughter of an American academic of Jewish origin and an Italian professor, she is bisexual and shares her life with a woman. She participated as a volunteer in the electoral campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and, thanks to the enthusiastic support of many young people from the cities of Emilia-Romaa, she was elected MEP in 2014, regional vice-president in 2020 and deputy in Rome in the last general elections. September.
In contrast to her opponent Bonaccini and the last secretary of the PD, the Catholic Enrico Letta, Schlein is a defender of the rights of LGTBI people and gender equality, and advocates for more investments in public health and more attention to the environment. Relative to many PD barons, she is casual and outgoing, and many voters call her directly Elly. Carla, an employee in Milan, says: The PD has been thinking only about power for a long time and going beyond people’s rights. I think that with Elly things can change.
In his speech after the victory, Schlein defined the trust shown in him by voters as a clear mandate for real change. […] with a line focused on the fight against all forms of inequality, the fight against precariousness […] and to urgently address the climate crisis.
They are election has scared many PD barons. Some are already talking about the risk of a split, with the most centrist wing willing to oppose the new secretary and leave the party to create a new center force with other moderates.