Elly Schlein first secretary of the Democratic Party
In contrast to the low turnout in the regional elections, more than a million people went to vote in the primaries of the Democratic Party (PD), choosing Elly Schlein as the new secretary. With 53.8% of the preferences, she became the first woman to lead the Democratic Party, defeating the president of Emilia Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, favored in internal consultation within party circles.“The Democratic Party is alive and this is a mandate to change, a clear line that puts the fight against inequality and the climate emergency at the center - Schlein said in his speech after the victory reported by Ansa -. We will make a contribution to organizing the opposition in defense of the poor, against a government that strikes them, we will be in defense of public schools when the government is silent in the face of a squad attack. We will stand and barricade against any cuts to health care".
Born in 1985, she was born in Italian-speaking Switzerland to an American father and an Italian mother. She studied law at the University of Bologna, where she graduated with honors votes in 2011 and helped found the Progrè university association, which is responsible for raising awareness of public opinion on issues related to migration and prison reality.
Political career
Her political life began in 2008, when she went to Chicago to participate as a volunteer in Barack Obama's electoral campaign for the US presidential elections, an experience she would repeat in 2012, during Obama's run for the second term.Always in 2012 she joined the Democratic Party, later becoming an animator of the Occupy Pd movement, in protest against the 101 parliamentarians who blocked Romano Prodi's race for the presidency of the Republic.In 2013 she supported Giuseppe Civati, a deputy in the Chamber, as secretary of the Democratic Party, but that year the primaries were won by Matteo Renzi.
In 2014, with an electoral campaign focused on environmental issues, she was elected to the European Parliament with 53,000 preferences and in 2015 she left the Democratic Party in disagreement with Renzi's policies, defined as "centre-right", we read on Repubblica .
From 2015 to 2019 he was a member of Possibile, the Civati movement, but left it to stand as a candidate in the regional elections of Emilia Romagna in 2020, with a civic list made up of Articolo uno and Sinistra Italy, in the centre-left coalition. Stefano Bonaccini, who was confirmed president of the region in those elections, chooses her as vice president.
In the general elections of 2022, she is a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies as an independent from the Democratic Party lists, resulting elected and resigning from the vice president of the region. With Enrico's resignation as secretary of the Democratic Party, after the defeat of the policies, Schlein decides to return to the party to officially run for the secretariat.