Elly Schlein voted leader of Italy’s most important leftwing party in surprise win
Italy’s most prominent leftwing party has elected its first female leader.
Elly Schlein, 37, defied poll projections and beat Stefano Bonaccini in the leadership race for the Democratic party (PD) on Sunday.
“The Democratic party is alive and ready to stand up,” said Schlein. “We did it, together we made a small big revolution, even this time they didn’t see us coming.”
Schlein said the party, which has struggled to form a strong opposition to Italy’s rightwing parties, “will be a problem” for the government led by Giorgia Meloni the leader of Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist roots.
Schlein, a former MEP, first came to prominence in early 2020 after her small party, Coraggiosa (Courageous), played a pivotal role in stopping the far right from seizing power in the traditionally leftwing Emilia-Romagna region.
Bonaccini won the presidency of the region, with Schlein appointed vice-president, a role from which she stepped down after being elected as a parliamentarian in Italy’s general elections in September.
Vocal on social justice issues, Schlein, an Italian-American national, has been compared in Italy to the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She rejoined the Democratic party after leaving in 2015 out of frustration over the direction the party was taking under its then leader and former prime minister, Matteo Renzi.
In an interview with the Guardian in September, she said she “couldn’t bear” the PD any more after Renzi enforced his flagship jobs act, containing labour market measures that made it easier for employers to fire people and to hire on precarious contracts.
Among Schlein’s policy priorities in the leadership race were a minimum wage, healthcare and the environment.
She takes over from Enrico Letta, who announced his resignation in September after the election that brought Meloni to power.
Her win came as a surprise given polls had forecast a victory for Bonaccini by a wide margin.
“The first thing I ask is to applaud Elly Schlein,” Bonaccini said. “I’ve spoken to her and congratulated her. Good luck for the great responsibility she assumes at the helm of the party. Elly prevailed and I’m available to help out.”
Many on the left are pinning their hopes on Schlein to revive the PD, which polls at about 17%, and present a viable opponent to Meloni, a popular leader whose Brothers of Italy party has continued to gather strength since coming to power in coalition with Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
“We will work together in the interest of the country,” Schlein said. “We will work for unity, my commitment is to be everyone’s leader, to win again.”