Who is Elly Schlein, the new hope of the Italian left?

It is the new face of the Italian opposition. On Sunday 26 February, the deputy Elly Schlein denied all the polls by winning the elections of the Democratic Party against Stefano Bonaccini. At 37, she thus becomes the first woman to lead the main Italian left-wing party.

An international trip

Born in 1985 in the city of Lugano (Switzerland), from an Italian mother and an American father of Ukrainian origin, the chosen one is Italian, Swiss and American. She cut her teeth as a volunteer in Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns. In 2015 she left the Democratic Party, in disagreement with the orientation given to her by the then leader, the former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Five years later, he made a splash when his small party, Coraggiosa (Courageous in French) blocked the rise to power of the far right in Emilia-Romagna. She then became vice president of the region, called to take charge of the fight against inequalities, social assistance and ecological transition by Stefano Bonaccini, her opponent in the primaries on Sunday.

He then experienced phenomenal progress, proudly carrying progressive values ​​centered around social justice and equality. Among the causes that he embodies are the confusion of access to social security, issues related to climate change and the issue of the minimum wage.

While the conservative premier Giorgia Meloni multiplies the discriminatory remarks against women and LGBTQIA+ people, Elly Schlein does not hesitate to respond firmly, like our colleagues from the huffpost : ” I am a woman. I love another woman and I am not a mother, but I am still a woman. We are not living wombs, but people with rights” he specifically said.

Restoring his letters of nobility left

Since the legislative elections last September won by the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia (with neo-fascist roots, such as the Keeper), the left struggles to maintain its course against a right that continues to gain ground. A few days earlier the Democratic Party had also lost the Rome region, and had been soundly beaten in Lombardy. The arrival of Elly Schlein, regularly compared to New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, therefore represents a new hope for the party that could have found a significant opponent against the right-wing coalition currently in power.