This is how the Social Democrats’ “anti-Meloni” ticks

The revolution wears sneakers. She comes without makeup. With youthful optimism and clear statements. With this, Elly Schlein (37) convinced the Italians and was elected leader of Italy’s largest opposition party with a majority of 54 percent.

Political scientist Stefano Bonaccini (56), the ‘red’ president of the Emilia-Romagna region, was still the clear favorite in the party’s internal primaries. But when it comes to drainage, the Italians make it clear what they want. Or don’t want to anymore.

The grassroots hopes for a turnaround, for women’s power, for straightforwardness, away from the internal games of those power-hungry, all-male political elites who regularly shatter their fragile coalitions. This revolution was already seen in the parliamentary elections at the end of September 2022, when Giorgia Meloni (46) led her far-right “Fratelli d’Italia”, in English “Brothers of Italy”, to victory and became Italy’s first woman to to act as prime minister.

With Elly Schlein, the party shifts to the left

Now the Social Democrats also have their strong, young leader. An anti-meloni, so to speak. Gone seems to be the spongy middle ground of their predecessors, the compromise policy. Elly Schlein shifts the Partito Democratico to the left. Equal pay, climate, social openness are on their agenda. She wants to unite the party – and challenge Giorgia Meloni.

While the prime minister relies on the traditional values ​​of her grandfathers, Elly Schlein embodies the modern zeitgeist. Giorgia Meloni fights against homosexuality and gender. The Fratelli d’Italia want to close the country’s borders and prevent migration. Many are neo-fascists and anti-Semitists. Elly Schlein, on the other hand, comes out as bisexual, is of Jewish descent and has three nationalities. Including the Swiss.

Giorgia Meloni prepares for tough competition

Elly Schlein was born Elena Ethel in 1985 in Ticino Sorengo TI. Her mother is Italian and her father is American. Both parents are college professors. The paternal grandparents were Ukrainian Jews and emigrated to the US. The maternal grandfather was a well-known Italian social democrat and anti-fascist. Elly Schlein goes to school in Agno TI, is the top of her class. She studies law and criminology in Bologna. That is where her political commitment began, initially on issues such as migration and prisons. In 2008 and 2012, Schlein assisted future US President Barack Obama (61) in both Chicago election campaigns. She gets to know the closeness of the people.

Migration is also her main concern during her time as a Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. From 2020 to 2022, she is Vice-President of the Region of Emilia-Romagna and, since October 2022, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where she is a candidate for the presidency.

To Meloni’s battle cry: “I am a woman, a mother, an Italian and a Christian”, Elly Schlein responds: “I am a woman, I love a woman, I am not a mother, but I am no less a woman for that. ” Giorgia Meloni will see the new left-wing leader primarily as a political challenger. “I congratulated her on her victory,” the prime minister told Italian media, “and I am preparing for a very tough opposition.”

Source: Blick