The leadership election of Fine Gale for the year 2017 was held in May and the son of an Indian immigrant, Leo Varadkar, 38, made a clear win. He was sworn in last week.

Later this month, the Parliament of Ireland will resume and Ireland will have its first 38-year-old gay prime minister. He will also become Ireland’s youngest leader.



Read on to know about him.


Varadkar is said to be the symbol of new and progressive Ireland especially after the Republic of Ireland voted for gay marriage in May 2015.

The two-week electoral contest also made the media spectators call him, “The Thatcherite” candidate after his comments during the election campaigns revolved round conservative, centre-right politics. He received support from LGBT groups in Ireland.
Varadkar’s ideology


Brian Finnegan, who is the editor of Gay Community News in Dublin, said, “I think it’s really significant that both his (Varadkar) party and the media in Ireland focused on his policies, rather than him simply being a gay man who wants to lead the country.”
Political past from 2004
Varadkar who graduated as a medical doctor from Trinity College Dublin entered Irish politics in 2004. He won the Dublin West constituency by almost 5,000 votes in the local government elections.
After the losses suffered by the political party Fine Gael in 2016, Leo stepped down as Ireland’s health minister. He then became minister for social protection after becoming a part of minority coalition.
Outgoing PM’s support
Irish PM elect has Mumbai connect

Kenny who led the government for 15 years said, “This is a tremendous honour for him (Leo Varadkar) and I know he will devote his life to improving the lives of people across our country.”
Irish PM elect has Mumbai connect

Some were surprised as to how the gay minister was able to win the election against Simon who enjoyed a strong grass root support. The Fine Gael parliamentary party has 73 TDs (members of the Irish assembly), senators and MEPs (Member of the European Parliament), got 65% of the votes.

Leo was only able to surpass Simon’s vote with the help of majority parliamentarian college votes that went in his favour.


source:https://howafrica.com/meet-the-youngest-irelands-leader-and-the-first-ever-gay-prime-minister/